The Way of the Prince
by Lily Sang
Summary: Shortly after they met, Son Goku surpassed Vegeta in strength. Ever since then, the Saiyan Prince's only goal in life has been to get back on top where he belongs. But even though he spent endless hours training, Goku always stayed one step ahead of him. In one reality, that is.
1. Chapter 1

Part one: Training

Chapter 1

"...And here we are," Bulma's father leaned casually against a steel door with a handle and two metal wheels bolted to it, along with a keypad and two dials. The words "GRAVITY ROOM" were printed near the top. Vegeta, dressed in black shorts and runners, tapped his foot impatiently. Though he was eager to start training as soon as possible, he sensed that the doctor wasn't finished talking yet.

"Alright," Dr. Briefs said, "Once you type the code into the keypad, just use the handle to open the door. Both of the wheels are just for show." He leaned forward and tapped the glass of one of the dials. "These are so you can see the climate of the room before you go in. Right now, there's no heavy gravity on, so this one's flat. The other one's for temperature. Let's see... 18° celsius. Perfect!" Vegeta rolled his eyes and tried the door handle, finding it to be locked. Oh god, did he have to listen to this? "...And of course I made the door out of metal so it can withstand the gravity. Actually, the gravity field's programmed to stop right before it hits the door, but I find metal simply _does_ so much for the-"

"Will you stop rambling on and just tell me the blasted password?" Vegeta snapped. He could easily smash through the door, of course, but he wanted privacy when training, not a gaping hole.

Briefs blinked and scratched his head. "I suppose I could, but don't you want to hear about the stylistic purposes of metal doors?"

"No," Vegeta said firmly. He was sorely aware of every passing moment that he could have been training. If the fool had just told him the relevant details, he could already be in the gravity room..

"Okay," the doctor said with a shrug of his shoulders, pulling a scrap of paper out of the pocket of his white lab coat. "The number to unlock the door is..." he squinted through his glasses. "5-1-6-9. Now, I'll give this to you so you don't forget, and-" But Vegeta was already in the room, having pressed the numbered keys as Briefs had spoken.

Looking around, he saw that the room was adequately large. Instead of being square, it was a sort of dome. A spherical object with metal spikes encircling its diameter protruded from the middle of the curved ceiling.

"These are the gravity controls, correct?" Vegeta asked, briskly walked over to a small cranny built into the wall. A keyboard rested inside. Briefs stepped into the room after him.

"Yup. It goes up to 300 G, just like you asked," he shook his head. "But if you ask me, I still think you're crazy. _Nobody_ can survive that, not even Goku." Vegeta looked up and frowned, disliking being compared to Kakarrot.

"Ah, but I'm not asking you, am I?" He turned his attention back to the hole in the wall, gesturing to the keyboard. "So I just type in how many G's I want?" Briefs nodded.

"Sure do, Vegeta. She's a real beauty, isn't she?" His eyes glazed over and he walked to the wall. His voice took on a dream-like quality. "Simple, yet elegant. Clear to operate, but so complex that only a brilliant scientist such as myself could understand how she works," Briefs patted the wall fondly. "Yes siree, a once-in-a-decade invention..." By now, Vegeta had had more than enough of Briefs's voice. He had told the Saiyan all of the necessary functions of the gravity room -and then some- and Vegeta had no more use for him.

"You're trying my patience, Briefs," Vegeta cut in when it was clear that the inventor wasn't going to finish anytime soon. "You've finished your explanation, now leave. I have training to do." Briefs stopped speaking with a huff, but mercifully started for the door. However, precious seconds were ticking by and he still wasn't out of the room. Why were Earthlings so slow?

With a growl of frustration, Vegeta dashed up to him and shoved him the rest of the way out, slamming the door shut behind him. Normally, he wouldn't be so impatient, but he had been waiting weeks for this machine to be done and he just wanted to get started. Besides, everyone on this measly dustball was so far below him that standard etiquette didn't apply. Even the so-called geniuses hadn't advanced the technology to what Vegeta was used to- before Raditz came to Earth they hadn't even known about scouters.

Vegeta walked to the center of the room, a small grin growing on his face. This was where it all began. If Kakarrot, low-class warrior that he was, grew strong enough to defeat _Freeza_ when he became a Super Saiyan, it was almost unthinkable what power Vegeta would be capable of when he ascended. He would make sure that he would far outstrip Kakarrot. And once he destroyed these androids, Kakarrot would pay a thousand times over in his own blood for the humiliation he had caused Vegeta to suffer.

"But first thing's first," he muttered, striding over to the controls. He would start off with what Kakarrot had trained in while on his way to Namek. Typing in "100", Vegeta squared his shoulders and hit enter. A humming sound came from the sphere on the ceiling and its spikes vibrated with energy. The air grew dense and a powerful force threatened to push Vegeta to his knees. He fought it, not budging an inch. _If I'm going to be training in gravity three times as heavy as this, this can't affect me at all!_ he thought fiercely to himself. Taking a slow, even breath in, Vegeta settled into a crouch. He closed his eyes, focusing on stopping his legs from trembling under the weight. He could certainly see why Kakarrot's power had increased so greatly after training in this. But he had to go further.

Opening his eyes, Vegeta exhaled in the same deep, calm manner. Quicker than lightning, he sprung forwards and launched a perfect sequence of attacks at the air: five punches, a spinning kick, a sideways chop, seven more kicks and another dozen punches, all within the space of a second. What would normally be an effortless routine was now a workout, but Vegeta still found it manageable.

The warm-up done, he approached the keyboard once again, careful to walk and hold himself as he normally would. It was now time to see exactly what he was getting himself into.

After he had typed the command into the machine, Vegeta stepped back and braced himself, every muscle tensed. However bad it may be, he would conquer it. And then he'd become a Super Saiyan, just like Kakarrot only much, much stronger. Vegeta waited with bated breath for three hundred times Earth's gravity to settle on his shoulders.

The lights dimmed a bit and for a second the entire room seemed to shiver. Vegeta gave a shuddering gasp as 300 G's forced the air from his lungs. He almost fell to his knees, but he resisted the pull. Vegeta inhaled, and the air burned as it went down his throat.

He couldn't stand up straight. Though he hadn't even begun to go through any of his combat drills, he was already sticky with sweat and one of his calves was cramping. He ignored it, and tried to run across the room, but he was so heavy that he couldn't even get both feet off the ground. He was still beyond the limits of what an ordinary human was capable of in terms of speed, but not by very much. Barely pausing for a half-second, Vegeta spun around and executed three sharp jabs. His body was really complaining now, but he pushed on. He did tone down the pace a little, though. Just enough that he could endure the training for as long as possible.

Hours passed in the room, as Vegeta worked his way through routine after hellish routine. Pale bruises formed on his skin and darkened as time wore on. As far as he could tell, Vegeta hadn't broken any bones, but there were times when he thought he had. He wasn't afraid of the pain, but this planet didn't have any healing tanks. Vegeta didn't have time to waste on any long-term recovery in a hospital.

The circular room took on a dark red tint, but that may have just been the blood pulsing through his eyes.

Finally, when Vegeta could stand it no longer, he stumbled over to the controls. He closed his eyes in relief as the gravity returned to Earth's norm. All his exhausted body wanted to do was to fall to the ground and stay there, but he forced himself to stay standing. When his legs threatened to buckle, he set his face into a mask of indifference and simply walked out the room. As he made his way down the hall, he saw the time on a clock. 5:27 PM. Dinner was always at six, so he'd have time to take a shower.

Vegeta tried to fly back to his room before anyone could see him, but to his horror he found that he didn't have enough chi left. That had never happened before. He could tell that it wasn't from being damaged, he was simply that low on energy. He just needed to eat, then he would regain his strength.

Vegeta made it to his bedroom without running into any humans, only the odd robot. When he first began his stay at Capsule Corp., he had quickly learned that the servant machines out-numbered the residents by a huge margin. Vegeta was ambivalent towards them as long as they stayed out of his way, but he liked that they didn't ask stupid questions or comment on the weather.

Pushing the door open, Vegeta saw with satisfaction that the room was in the same state as he had left it. A while back, he had returned to find things rearranged and tidied. In a rage, Vegeta had told Briefs that the next time any creature went in his room without permission, he would destroy it. Human or robot. In reality, Vegeta had had multiple servants as a child on planet Vegeta, and a few were even assigned to him when he was a high-ranking official working under Freeza, so he was well used to it. But he didn't want any more reminders of his past. Vegeta spent little time there himself, though, so it was never much work to keep it clean.

He kicked the door shut behind him and swiftly crossed the room to his closet. Pulling out a shirt and a pair of pants at random, he walked into his bathroom. With relief, Vegeta noticed that, now that he was out of the gravity room, the pain was almost gone. He barely felt the bruises anymore, he had gotten so many over the course of his life.

Catching sight of himself in the mirror, Vegeta sighed. He didn't look so bad. There wasn't anything noticeably wrong with his face, though Mrs. Briefs wouldn't approve of the many purple splotches on his arms and chest. Vegeta despised Bulma's mother, with her fretting, invasive ways, but he found that the easiest thing to do was to not tell her anything about what he was doing. He would wear long sleeves.

Of course, he could always just kill the old nag, but even if he did away with the entire residents of Capsule Corp., Kakarrot was sure to find out eventually and then he'd be in trouble. Besides, Vegeta needed them for food and shelter. He would not lower himself to stealing, though it was well within his capabilities. He was a Prince, and he deserved no less than what he had. Although the Briefs were an eccentric lot, they were very wealthy.

Vegeta quickly stripped down and stepped into the shower, twisting the handle to the coldest setting. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the cool, white tiles of the shower wall, as the ice-cold water soothed his hot skin.

Vegeta stood in the shower for a few minutes, just letting the spray of water wash all the grime and sweat away, dripping off his hair and swirling down the drain. He noticed that there was a fair bit of blood washing off, too. He must've had a few cuts and scratches.

After a while, he stepped out and got dressed, pulling on a beige pair of shorts with cargo pockets and a white cotton t-shirt. Feeling much better (but ravenously hungry), he raced out the door, pausing only to throw on a black sweater.

A second or two later, Vegeta arrived at the entrance to the dining room. He cut all of his speed and walked leisurely through the doorway.

Mr. and Mrs. Briefs were seated at the fancy dinner table along with Yamcha, Pu'ar and Oolong, three pathetic freaks that Bulma had picked up years ago. Yamcha was a former desert bandit who didn't have the drive, nor the balls, to get serious about training. As a result, he was even weaker than Kuririn, and Vegeta held utter disdain for him. Oolong and Pu'ar were both shape-shifters, the latter being Yamcha's sidekick. Despite this somewhat interesting power, they were no stronger than an ordinary human. Oolong was, quite literally, a pig, and Pu'ar seemed to be some sort of strange cross between a cat and a mouse.

"Hello, dear," Mrs. Briefs greeted Vegeta as he strode over to a chair and sat down. "My husband tells me that today was your first time in the new gravity room. How was that?"

"Fine," Vegeta mumbled. "However, if you call me that demeaning name again, someone will be relieved of their teeth in the near future." Mrs. Briefs put a hand to her mouth and giggled.

"Oops! Silly me, I forgot. Okay, Vegeta." She batted her eyelashes at him. "Or is it Prince Vegeta?" He stared at the white table-cloth, trying not to shudder. Did he look like the kind of person who was interested in a relationship? Was there some sign above his head saying "Flirt with me"? No. No, there was not.

"Vegeta. Just Vegeta." He kept his temper in check. Even so, Briefs must have sensed something, because he placed a hand protectively on his wife's shoulder.

"Er, where do you think Bulma is?" he asked her, changing the subject. The woman shrugged.

"She knows what time we eat at. If she's not here soon, there will have to be consequences. It's not polite to keep our guests waiting." Not for the first time, Vegeta wondered what he was doing with these people. They were so different from him, so... docile and meek. Vegeta had told Briefs to make him a gravity room, and so he did. Vegeta wanted full-time food and lodgings, and Mrs. Briefs was more than happy to provide. Nobody expected anything from him, even though he was living in their house, eating their food. Vegeta hated being so dependant, but he couldn't leave, especially now that there was a gravity room.

Somewhere above them, a door slammed. Then the sound of someone running down the stairs, and Bulma appeared in the doorway, face flushed and out of breath.

"Sorry I'm late!" she panted, dropping into a chair. "I was just in the lab at the other end of the house, and I lost track of time."

"I understand, sweetie," Briefs patted his daughter's hand. "God knows it's happened to me before."

"You should've been on time," Vegeta said impatiently. "Whatever you were doing couldn't have been that important, you've kept us waiting, and I have to get back to training." Bulma's mouth dropped open and she stared at him, eyes burning with anger.

"Ex_cuse_ me!" she cried indignantly. "Have you considered the possibility that I have meaningful work to do, too? How long were you waiting for me, anyways? Two minutes? Three? I don't know if you're aware of this, but you're _not_ the center of the universe. The Earth revolves around the sun, not you, and other people also have the right to exist!" Vegeta's face darkened and he clenched his hands into fists. He would not tolerate this.

"Insolence!" he spat. "How dare you speak to me this way! I am the Prince of all-"

"Break it up, break it up!" Yamcha interrupted, putting himself in between the two of them. "Jeez, can't you guys get along?" Vegeta crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. He would not continue this idiotic conversation. He just wanted to eat, then get back to training.

After a period of silence, Bulma spoke up. "So... it's been really sunny these past few days," Vegeta banged his forehead on the table, which she ignored. "Been out in the garden, mom?" Not listening to Mrs. Briefs's reply, Vegeta watched as small service doors in the walls slid open and little robots wheeled out, bearing great silver platters of food. At last!

He sat up straight, his stomach growling with hunger. Although the servers were going so slow it looked like they were moving through tar, everything was on the table soon enough. As quick as he could without spilling anything, Vegeta served himself some of everything, barely bothering to leave half of each dish for the others. He snatched his chopsticks up and started scarfing down food. Tonight there was fried chicken with some sort of spicy orange sauce, steamed broccoli and rice. It was all very good, as usual, though he didn't have time to fully experience it. He had to get back to training.

As Vegeta drizzled soy sauce on his rice with one hand while tearing chicken off the bone and eating it with the other, he felt the eyes of everyone at the table on him. Not pausing or even looking up from his plate, he kept on eating. Moments later, Vegeta abruptly stood up from the table and streaked out the door. For an instant, he had almost thanked Mrs. Briefs for the meal, but he didn't. She was, after all, a nobody. Nobodies didn't deserve thanks.

Stopping by his room briefly to change back into his shorts, Vegeta was soon back in the gravity room. He was feeling almost 100% recharged, and he was dying to keep going.

He did some warm-up exercises with no gravity on to shake off the sluggish feeling that came with being full, and jumped right into the highest setting. Vegeta frowned and cracked his knuckles, his back complaining about all of the extra weight it was fighting against. But that was good. It showed him his limits, which he would overcome. Work through the pain, ascend, destroy the androids and then kill Kakarrot. Simple enough.

Vegeta trained and trained until he could barely walk in a straight line, then switched off the machine for the night. There was a final sigh-like hum as it powered down and the lights dimmed. Vegeta also let out a breath and gently massaged the back of his neck. He left, making sure to lock the door behind him, and made his way back to his bedroom.

The corridors of Capsule Corp. were dark and abandoned, and Vegeta's footsteps echoed in a way that reminded him of emptiness, of being alone, of death. This was his favorite time to walk these halls, all the cheer and light of day gone. Sometimes the world was a dark place, and too many people pretended otherwise. Sometimes, terrible things came out of the shadows and stole people away. But what made this time so special for Vegeta was that he wasn't the innocent and vulnerable person running from their demons, _he_ was the cause of their fear. He had the power to decide who lived and who died.

Or he would, if blasted Kakarrot wasn't always in the way. Oh well. Once he was a Super Saiyan, Kakarrot wouldn't be a problem anymore. Vegeta almost wanted to turn right around and go train some more, but he knew that he needed to sleep. It was only the first day, anyways. Vegeta had three years to get as powerful as was possible, and then some, and the real test would start tomorrow.

In his room, he kicked off his shoes and fell into bed. In the last few seconds before sleep overtook him, Vegeta smiled in the darkness. _Look behind you, Kakarrot. Do you see me fast approaching? Do you feel scared, knowing that I'm going to catch up to you and I'm bringing death with me? I will show you what real fear tastes like..._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Vegeta opened his eyes, instantly wide awake. It was time to get back to training.

Judging by the paleness of the sky, he must have slept for around five hours. He didn't feel that hungry, though, so he could go straight to the gravity room.

He jumped out of bed and immediately staggered to a stop, wincing. His every muscle ached from head to toe. No big surprise, considering he probably had the greatest workout of his life yesterday.

Vegeta went to a window and opened it. Leaning out, he effortlessly broke off a large chunk of the building and crushed it into smaller and smaller pieces with his bare hands, little shards of stone raining down on the sidewalk.

Dusting himself off, Vegeta did some stretches. So he was as powerful as normal, it just hurt to move. Good, that meant he was stretching his boundaries, going out of his comfort zone. The stretching burned at first, but afterwards the pain eased up a little. Vegeta was sure that he shouldn't stop now, that he shouldn't let up just because of a little pain.

Vegeta took deep breaths and jogged out the door to the gravity room. He could do this. In no time at all, he was in the room and ready to begin. Knowing that it was likely going to be much tougher this time around, Vegeta got a little thrill of excitement. Give him the worst! He would endure and defeat this obstacle. He was Saiyan, and Saiyans lived to complete challenges, to defeat the enemy.

And so, when the gravity and pain came down on him like a 16-ton sledgehammer, Vegeta didn't move at all, eyes burning with determination.

"This- is- nothing!" he roared, locking his knees so that his legs didn't shake. "I am the Prince of All Saiyans! I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!" And he surged across the room, each and every joint crying out in agony, but the pain just focusing him that much more, and pushed on, already stronger than he had been 24 hours ago.

If a human had happened to be watching, Vegeta would have seemed to vanish into thin air. Occasionally, they might catch a dark flash of motion, but only if they were looking hard. The sole indicator that the room wasn't empty were the taps and clicks of feet on stone and the whistling of wind as the Saiyan sliced through the air like a knife.

But, as amazing as one might find it, Vegeta was in hell. It was a small battle just to draw in all the oxygen that he needed, and it took all of his stamina to keep up the speed. It was pure torture. Try as he might, Vegeta could never entirely ignore his screaming body, and it kept messing him up. Just small things, not ending up quite where he'd planned on after leaping, or missing a kick or two, but Vegeta loathed himself for each and every mistake. He wouldn't stop until he thought enough time had passed, and that wasn't going to be for a while. Until then, his body was just going to have to deal with it.

Vegeta sweated and suffered for hours, until his growling stomach got loud enough to interrupt his focus. He realized that it must be about lunch time, and he powered down the machine. Even though at times it felt like his bones would snap, he relished the feeling of serious exercise. He hadn't had a real challenge in months, and he didn't want to stop. But he had to eat, so he would take a break.

Vegeta went out the door and sneaked to the kitchen. He wasn't in the mood for any human interaction and he was pretty sure that, if he had to speak to anyone at all, he'd do something he'd regret. Or rather, he'd regret the consequences. The actual doing, he'd love.

Opening the fridge, he saw that there was some chicken and rice left over from last night, a carton of milk, eggs, and various fruits and vegetables. Vegeta wolfed down the chicken and rice, barely stopping to take a breath.

Although he could have eaten a lot more, he felt bile rising in his stomach and knew that if he had any more food, he'd throw up. That was okay, hunger sharpened his mind. Taking a swig of milk, he left the room and went back to training.

This time, he tried to turn Super Saiyan on purpose. He knew little about how it was done, just that it was activated by rage. Vegeta visualized Kakarrot and how much stronger he was, how he didn't deserve to wield such power, how he had utterly surpassed Vegeta in every way...

Although it did make him very, very angry, and he tried as hard as he could to release the power that had to be locked away inside him, he couldn't do it. He screamed with the effort until he had to pause briefly and regain his breath, but nothing happened. He hadn't expected it to be easy, though, so he wasn't worried... yet.

His head was pounding and he decided to slow down. He wasn't sure how long he could last if he did his training in super speed.

Vegeta was in middle of one of his many routines when it happened. With no warning at all, he got incredibly dizzy, stumbled, and almost fell over. He looked around, wide eyes watering. What was happening to him? Nausea wracked his stomach, and it felt like he was going to puke. Clutching his head, Vegeta lurched over to the controls. Had he overdone it?

Gagging, he reached for the keyboard to set the gravity back to normal, but before he could do anything else, he collapsed, unconscious before he hit the ground.

OoO

"Vegeta?"

Groggily, Vegeta came to. He felt like he was made of lead and he seemed to be lying on his back. What happened? The last thing he remembered was going to turn off the gravity, but after that... nothing. He must have blacked out.

"Vegeta!"

A voice was calling his name. There was a pounding noise, it sounded like there was someone banging at the door. Reflexively, he twisted his head to look, and bit back a scream of pain as his neck spasmed. If he had thought he was sore this morning (was it still the same day?), well, that was nothing compared to now. It felt like he was dying. His muscles were on fire. Vegeta realized that the heavy gravity was still on, which meant that he'd have to get up off the floor and switch it off. He groaned. What was the best way of doing this? Fast or slow? He could have been on the ground for hours. What would that do to a person? Would he even make it to the controls?

Now or never. Eyes screwed shut, Vegeta propped his upper body up on one elbow. The pain was fantastic, and he paused for a few seconds to see if he'd lose consciousness again. So far so good. He slid his legs underneath him until he was on all fours. In addition to being on fire, his muscles seemed to have seized up, so he had to gently flex them until they relaxed a bit. But he was making progress. He could survive long enough to turn off the machine, and then everything would be fine.

"Vegeta, if you don't answer me in five seconds I'm gonna shut this room down for a week!" Vegeta bristled as he recognized the speaker. Bulma. What was that accursed woman's problem? Couldn't she leave him be? She had no right to speak to him in that way, as if he were a child.

"What is it?" he snapped as he crawled to the controls. "This had better be important." With a small shudder, he reached the hole in the wall and turned off the machine. He didn't feel relief as the gravity let up. He felt like all of his muscles had suddenly turned to water. Supporting himself on the wall, Vegeta ran a hand through his hair, trying to wake himself up. He was suddenly feeling very tired and he just wanted to go to sleep and try to forget how close he had come to training to death.

"You didn't come to supper and it's midnight. I was checking to see if you're still alive, I guess." Vegeta heard genuine relief in her voice. He hated her irrational concern for him. He didn't understand nor need it, and it just annoyed him.

"Why do you _bother_? Contrary to popular belief, I _am _capable of taking care of myself. I don't need a babysitter."

"For your information, sometimes I walk around at night. So I just happened to notice that the gravity room was still on, and I thought to myself, 'Gee, I'm sure Mr. Responsible wouldn't have forgotten to turn it off, so he must still be there!' You should really get to bed." Vegeta rolled his eyes, pushing open the door in exasperation. He stared at Bulma coldly.

"How can I get to my room if you're standing-"

"Aaaah! What happened to you?!" she yelled, recoiling. Vegeta raised an eyebrow.

"What?" He looked down at himself. Nothing seemed wrong.

Bulma raised one hand to her mouth and pointed at him. "Y-your eyes!" she whimpered. "They're... uh... maybe you should see for yourself." She tugged on his arm. "There's a mirror over there." With a sigh, Vegeta snatched his arm back and followed her.

"Here," Bulma shoved him in front of a large mirror hanging on the wall. He studied his shadowy reflection. Again, he couldn't see what the human was fussing over. He just looked tired and fed up.

"What are you babbling about?" he growled. "I'm fine." Bulma shook her head.

"No, no, you have to look closer," she urged. "Like I said, it's your eyes." Vegeta groaned but obliged her and glanced at his face. Although he was fed up with her and sleepy as anything, he had to admit that he was a bit curious as to what the girl was talking about.

And then he saw. For some reason, both of the whites of his eyes had turned completely red. "Oh," he said. He didn't feel anything, they were just... red. Like blood. "Do you have any idea what this is?" he asked her, his tone of voice less abrasive now that he understood. Sometimes Bulma knew about things like this.

"Hmm..." she cocked her head and stared at him. "Can I...?" she gestured to his face. Vegeta willingly stood still as she placed her thumb on his cheekbone and gently pushed the skin back from one eye.

"Okay, look around," she commanded, and he did. Her soft, cool fingers felt nice on his hot skin. "Yeah, it's just as I thought," she mused. "Looks like a lot of the blood vessels in your eyes have burst. You really must've been working hard," Her gaze softened and she patted him on the back. "...Take it easy, okay?" He flicked her hand off his shoulder and stepped out of reach.

"It doesn't matter what happens to me as long as I can still train," he said. "I'm not going to change anything. Just tell me, is this anything to be concerned about?"

She crossed her arms, frustrated. "Not per se, but it shows that you've been working too hard. I need you to make me a promise." Vegeta, already walking away, glanced over his shoulder at her in mid-stride.

"What is it now?" he said in exasperation. All he wanted to do was go to sleep.

Bulma took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, looking for all the world like she was about to head into battle.

"You shouldn't spend all of your time locked up in that room. It's unhealthy. I think that, once a week, you should have dinner with me." Vegeta didn't even think about it, just shook his head and turned to leave. "Wait!" she cried, running after him. "It's only for once a week, and it'll just be with me. You wouldn't have to suffer through dinner with my mom or Yamcha. I know you don't like them." Vegeta paused, actually considering.

"No," he said, beginning to walk away again.

"Aw, come on Vegeta!" Bulma called after him. "Am I so bad? Wait, don't answer that." She laughed. "But really, isn't it better if you let your body rest sometimes? You know, more effective?" Again, he stopped and thought about it. She did have a point. "I can even get the rest of your meals delivered right outside the gravity room's door." A very good point. But he still said nothing. Bulma's eyes lit up. "Oh! I can see if Karin has any senzu left!" He blinked. He had forgotten all about the healing beans. All of her arguments were so persuasive... how did she do it? And for that matter, why? Why did she want to help him, when he had never done a thing for her? Humans were so strange...

"Why are you doing this?" Vegeta asked warily, studying her. "What could you possibly have to gain?"

Bulma shrugged. "Hey, I happen to _like _the world. If you guys are gonna insist on fighting the androids instead of pre-emptively destroying them, well... I want to help in any way I can." Her voice got softer. "Not much else I can do, is there?"

Vegeta started to pace. True, it probably would be better if he wasn't training every waking hour. And it would be nice to not have to either sneak his food or brave the tedious horrors of the dining table at mealtimes. Bulma was unusually bright for her species, he could survive having supper with her for one night a week...

"Okay," he agreed at last. "I'll do it." Bulma grinned.

"Great!" she chirped. "So I'll see you on Sunday, which is... in four days. In the meantime, let's both get some sleep." She began to walk away. "Don't kill yourself!" she yelled, waving. Vegeta stood there and watched her go, noticing the subtle way she had ordered him around and not liking it one bit. But, all in all, she didn't seem so bad. One night a week seemed like a small price to pay in exchange for food delivered to his door and senzu beans.

Vegeta turned on his heel and headed back to his room, wondering what exactly he was getting himself into.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The weeks slowly trickled by, and Vegeta still hadn't done it. He was really starting to get concerned. So he upped his training regime.

Although he wasn't a Super Saiyan yet, he was definitely growing stronger. Though the gravity still made him abysmally slow and at times it felt like he was about to die, he had gotten tough enough to endure his hours of training as long as he didn't push himself.

The first time he had to eat out with Bulma was admittedly not as bad as he had expected. The mood was formal, almost stiff, and it took him back to the evenings he had spent dining with his parents on planet Vegeta. Civilized and regal, it was at nine o'clock at night so Bulma's parents and the trio of losers were long gone from the table. The food was spectacular -even more so than usual- and the soft glow of lamplight illuminated the room. It was a welcome respite from the harsh overhead lights of the gravity room that Vegeta was used to, and he appreciated it.

For some reason, maybe since he had been training all day every day, he relaxed and ate slowly, savouring each bite. He didn't spend every thought on when he'd get back to work or what moves he would start with. That hour was the closest thing to peace he had gotten in a long time. He was starting to feel like a person again.

With each passing week, in between the painful sessions of training, Bulma and Vegeta gradually started to open up to each other and have conversations. Real ones, not just small observations about this or that. They compared their two cultures -though he was careful not to tell her anything even remotely personal- and told stories of their past. Well, that was mostly Bulma. She had made it clear that she didn't want to hear about him murdering entire species and then selling their planets under Freeza. Which was fine by him, as he wasn't particularly keen on telling her in the first place. The past was history and that slimy dictator didn't deserve to be spoken of.

Sometimes they left the building altogether and tried out the various restaurants in West City. After, Bulma would drive back home and Vegeta would fly as fast as he could in one direction, the wind howling furiously past him and whipping through his hair as he shot over the desert and then eventually the ocean. Being out in the sea in the middle of the night was one of the few things that he loved about Earth; no land for as far as the eye could see, the endless, pitch black waves roaring underneath him in turmoil. Vegeta would leave his troubles, all his frustration and hatred, behind the second his feet left the ground, and when he was out over the ocean, well, he forgot who he was.

"So, how's the progress been going?" Bulma asked him. They were sitting in Capsule Corp.'s indoor garden, the remains of a picnic spread out before them.

"Fine." Vegeta leaned back on his elbows, legs stretched out in front of him. "... I'm still not a Super Saiyan," he admitted, "but I am getting stronger."

"That's good." Bulma was lying on her side, absentmindedly playing with a lock of her hair. "You'll do it." With a resolute nod of her head, she looked him in the eye. "I believe in you."

"Why?" Vegeta asked bluntly. She just shrugged her shoulders.

"'Cause if you want something badly enough, you get it. That's just the way things are."

He snorted and rolled his eyes. "Through the 'Power of Positive Thinking'? Don't tell me you believe in that crock. You can't wish things into existence, you have to work for them." Bulma looked away.

"Yeah, I know. I meant you, as in, you." She pointed at him. "Sorry, I should've said, 'That's just the way things are with _you_.'"

Vegeta watched her. She had genuine faith in his abilities. But she must know by now what he planned to do once he ascended. Why was she encouraging him? Didn't she care about Kakarrot?

Bulma met his gaze, then her eyes flickered away in that strange human way. Then she looked back.

"You think that I can do it?" he whispered. She leaned in slightly to hear him better.

"Yeah," she breathed.

"I hope, for my sake, that you're right." He cocked his head and gave her a wry smile. "Otherwise, I'll probably die." They gravitated towards each other until their noses were almost touching.

"Vegeta," Bulma said, almost too quiet to hear, "Don't die."

He kissed her.

Bulma gasped and froze, but after a few seconds she put her arms around his shoulders and kissed him back, her soft lips pressed against his.

Vegeta let out a sigh. This was nice. This was really, really nice. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers, all of a sudden feeling sleepy. He got up and stretched. "I should get back," he said with a yawn. "See you in a week," Bulma blinked.

"Uh, yeah," she said, her voice high-pitched. "Bye." For some reason, she was giving him a strange look. He ignored it and headed out the door, not thinking any more of it.

As he went back to his room, he was feeling significantly lighter than normal. Was this what it was like to be human? All... soft and warm and fuzzy? He was sure that he wouldn't want to live like this, but... maybe he could learn to like it once in a while. He had heard that there were all these rules and guidelines when it came to this sort of thing, and he wondered if he had made any mistakes.

And then he was in his room, and his thoughts turned to training once more before he fell asleep.

OoO

Months later, and he hadn't ascended yet. Vegeta was more than a little bothered, but he kept at it. He wasn't about to give up, even though he was making little progress. Oh, he was making progress all right, only not the kind he wanted. It didn't matter how strong he got in his normal form, as long as he wasn't a Super Saiyan, it didn't count.

One night, he was just walking out the door to get to bed when he ran into Yamcha, of all people. He was standing right outside the door of the gravity room, obviously waiting for him. He had a tense, confrontational look on his face.

"What?" Vegeta said, crossing his arms. The Earthling was sweating, probably because it was nervous, and looked angry. Vegeta wondered why.

"Listen, Vegeta," he began, "I know that you've been getting to know Bulma over the past while, and I just want you to know that that's not a bad thing." He laughed nervously and Vegeta just blinked, not knowing where this was going.

Yamcha subconsciously shifted his weight from one foot to the other and fidgeted. "But... just don't get _too _cozy, okay?"

"Huh?" Vegeta said blankly. What was this about?

"I mean, she's very important to me and I don't want to see her hurt."

Vegeta let out a bark of laughter as he suddenly realized what the human was getting at. "I see what this is about! You're jealous, aren't you?" His shoulders shook with laughter. This was hilarious! It was almost endearing, the way the male was so concerned about her. But Vegeta knew that there wasn't anything going on between the two of them, Bulma had told him that they used to date but that was all.

Yamcha glared at him. "So what if I am? Just... just stay away from her!" He edged towards Vegeta, fists raised, until he was towering over the Saiyan. Vegeta noticed their height difference but didn't back away. He was not afraid of this figuratively puny weakling. "Or else I'll... I'll-"

"You'll what?" Vegeta interrupted. "There isn't a damn thing you can do because you," he poked Yamcha in the chest, "are pathetic. I'll do what I want." Yamcha's face turned red with anger and he stepped back.

"You want to fight? 'Cause I'll do it!" he yelled. "Right here, right now!"

Vegeta smirked. "You think you're being noble? You're too weak to have even the faintest hope of challenging me. This isn't bravery, this is absolute stupidity!" He made a dismissive gesture. "Go sleep your life away, worm." He turned to leave.

Vegeta felt the Earthling's chi flare behind him. Without stopping or even turning around, he shot a hand out and blocked the kick that Yamcha had aimed at his head. Vegeta slowly turned and stared at him, not letting go of his leg. This was starting to get annoying.

"What did I just say?" Vegeta said quietly, and for the first time he saw real terror in the man's eyes. He smiled and tightened his grip. Yamcha winced in pain. "It takes a lot of guts to attack someone from behind, doesn't it?" he said sarcastically. "Now begone, before I really lose my patience." He leaned closer to the fool, grinning fiendishly. "Or do you want me to break something?"

Yamcha let out a small whimper of fear and shook his head.

"What was that?" Vegeta said. "I didn't quite hear you. Was that a yes?"

"What's going on?" a voice cried. Vegeta reluctantly released his prey and sighed. Of all the times for Bulma to stick her nose in, just when he was starting to have some real fun.

"Just giving Yamcha some tips on how to fight like a man," he called to her as she hurried over. "I think he almost understands the concept."

"Was he?" she asked Yamcha, who shook his head.

"No. He was threatening me," he said, matter-of-fact. Vegeta grumbled under his breath. Did the idiot _want _to die? "I told him to keep his hands off you, and he got mad." He ran to Bulma and hugged her protectively. "Bulma," he hissed, "I think that you should stay away from him. He's... not safe."

Vegeta leaned against the wall. "I can hear you, you know."

Bulma, much to Vegeta's amusement, pushed Yamcha away. "I think I can make my own decisions on who to trust, thanks," she said stiffly. "He's not as bad as you think, aren't you, V?" He rolled his eyes.

"Don't call me that," he said. But inside, he was chuckling over how she was choosing him, an alien mass-murderer who had been responsible for the death of half her friends, over someone she had known for years and had dated. But had she ever loved him? Vegeta wasn't so sure about that.

"Fine!" Yamcha said indignantly. "Excuse me for wanting to keep you alive! But I'm right, you'll see..." he was backing away now. "You're the devil!" he yelled, then ran around the corner.

Vegeta doubled over, laughing his head off. Bulma huffed in disapproval, but her eyes were smiling.

"Why were you here? Your room's on the other end of the building," he said, once he had caught his breath.

Bulma shrugged. "I dunno, I was just lying awake in bed and I thought to myself, 'Man, Sunday's such a long time from now', so I went to find you."

He eyed her. "You missed me?"

She nodded. "Yeah." There were a few moments of silence, then she casually wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. "I was wondering... do you want to go back to my room?" Vegeta's eyes widened slightly as he realized what that implied and he was momentarily speechless. They had kissed a few more times since the first time, but things had never gone further than that.

"Okay," he said finally, decision made. He had to admit, he was curious as to what it would be like and now seemed as good a time as any. Bulma smiled in pleasure and nuzzled his neck, biting his ear softly.

"Only let's go to my room." He scooped her into his arms, as a husband would a bride. "It's closer."

He ran quickly through Capsule Corp. to get to his room, Bulma laughing in delight as they sped through the corridors.

"Oh my god, this is so fast!" she whooped. "Amazing!"

"We're here," he said, skidding to a stop. She looked at him fondly.

"Is this what it's like to be you?" she asked. He nodded.

"Pretty much." Vegeta grinned, pushed the door open and gestured inside. "Ladies first."

OoO

Wide awake, Vegeta rolled over in bed. Well. That was... interesting. It was like nothing he'd ever done before. He had enjoyed it, amazingly so, but it had left him feeling exposed and conflicted inside. Vegeta knew that Bulma thought he was more committed to her than he actually was. Sure, she was smart, funny, nice and sexy, but he wasn't the kind of person who could be there for her when she needed him. He wasn't a loyal, protective goodie-two-shoes like Kakarrot. There may be times when it would seem otherwise, but in the end he worked alone.

For now, however, he was content to lie in bed and just enjoy his human. He nestled closer to Bulma's sleeping form, pulling her to him and tried to fall asleep.

After at least a half hour, however, he accepted that it just wasn't going to happen and got up. If he wasn't sleeping, he may as well be training. He pulled on his shorts then covered Bulma up with the blanket in case she got cold. That was probably what a human male would do, wasn't it?

Once he had been working for a few hours, he finally noticed something that had been going on for a long time behind his back. He wasn't getting stronger.

He had been visualizing becoming a Super Saiyan as getting to the top of a very long ladder. Whenever he made progress, he imagined himself climbing a few more rungs. But lately, he hadn't been getting any higher. He frantically wracked his brain, trying to recall the last time he had eaten a senzu. It had been a week ago. Did he get a power surge afterwards? To his horror, he couldn't remember.

He did, however, recall that he had been too busy thinking about Bulma at the time to notice if he had.

"NO!" Vegeta fell to his knees, heedless of any gravity whatsoever. This was bad.

How could he let himself get distracted by some useless Earth woman? He was a fool! He should've given his training top priority, should've single-mindedly devoted himself to it, but instead he had allowed himself to... to be _seduced _by Bulma! He was a soft, idiotic waste of space. This couldn't go on.

He had to push her away. That was the only option.

Vegeta was outraged to find that a small part of him objected to that. It wanted to stay with her, where it was warm and happy all the time and nobody worried about anything. He forcefully grabbed that part, beat the living daylights out of it and then locked it up deep inside him so that it would never escape. It was poisoning him, turning him from a proud and heartless killing machine into a soft, spineless maggot. He would not tolerate this.

Setting his jaw, Vegeta marched off to find Bulma, a determined glint in his eye. He ran back to his room in a few seconds, but she was nowhere to be found. He took a deep breath, her scent filling his nostrils. Sweet like honey, but not overpoweringly so, with the slight bite of cinnamon. He followed it out the door and through the building until he came to the little yellow breakfast room and there she was, wearing her bathrobe and eating a bowl of cereal.

Upon seeing him, she got up and smiled. "'Morning!" she said, her voice a bit hoarse with sleep. "Been training already?" Vegeta nodded.

"Yeah. Listen, there's something I need to talk to you about." Bulma's face lit up.

"Did you do it?" she asked excitedly. For a moment, he actually felt a bit guilty. She really did care about him. Oh well, her loss.

"I don't want to see you anymore," he said, purposely leaving out all the details. The best thing he could do for Bulma at this point was to get her so angry at him that she didn't want to be with him anymore. That would make things easier.

Bulma stared at him. "Wha...? I don't understand," she said, her brow furrowed.

"Come on, you're a smart girl. It's simple, really. We won't have meals together, there'll be no more kissing and definitely no more..." he trailed off, a bit too embarrassed to finish his sentence. "You know what I mean."

"But last night...?" Vegeta was surprised that Bulma wasn't mad at him yet. She just looked betrayed and hurt. One final touch should do it.

"...Was nothing," he finished. "If you think it was, then you're a needy fool who's ruled by her emotions." Ah yes, there we go. Bulma's face was darkening in anger.

"Then why did you even bother?" she snapped, crossing her arms and turning away from him.

"Idle curiosity," he replied simply. Bulma was glaring at him with more venom than he'd ever seen her use before.

"Oh my god, Yamcha was right," she said softly. "Fine. Go ahead and waste your life training in that precious room of yours. Just... just leave me alone," she said lowly, through gritted teeth. "Before I kick you out on the streets." He left, but not before meeting her gaze for a few seconds with his most haughty, unintimidated look.

As he raced back to the gravity room, Vegeta briefly wondered what would have become of them if he hadn't purposefully ruined everything. But then he snapped himself out of it. He still had to ascend, and no silly human would prevent him from doing so any longer.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Vegeta stormed into the gravity room, head pounding with fury. He was angry at so many things, himself most of all. How could he let Bulma distract him from his training? It would have been barely acceptable if he had already achieved his initial goal of becoming a Super Saiyan, but the way he was now... he was disgusted with himself.

Vegeta wanted to break something (or someone) very badly, but the only thing around was the gravity machine, and if he broke that, he would truly be an idiot. He paced around the room restlessly, too frustrated to stay still yet too distracted to train. He would have to fix that.

Going over to the controls, he set the gravity to maximum. His hands were shaking so much that it took him a few tries. Not waiting for it, he launched into one of his most elaborate and tricky routines, one that he had barely tried with 300 G's because it was so physically demanding. When the gravity hit, Vegeta was in the middle of a kick and he loathed how his leg sank under the extra weight, almost knocking him off-balance.

It didn't matter how hard he was working, Vegeta refused to let the gravity affect him at all. He wouldn't lose to this, too.

Hardly aware that he was doing something that he had found virtually impossible before, Vegeta slowly made his way around the circumference of the room, kicking and punching and spinning as if he was possessed.

"RRAAAH!" he screamed, bringing his clasped hands down on the floor hard enough to crack it. Then he stood still, panting, realization dawning on him.

Have I done it? He didn't feel a bottomless pit of untapped energy inside him, and it was still hard to move around the room. Not yet entirely convinced, Vegeta snagged a lock of his hair between two fingers and brought it in front of his eyes. Still jet black.

Vegeta's entire body shivered, the false hope almost too much for him to take. That was the last straw. No more going outside except for sleeping and getting food. Every single moment of his time in the room would be spent pushing against his limits. From now on, he was going full throttle. He had wasted roughly half the time he had before the androids came, the rest would be put to good use. If they killed him, he would deserve it for slacking off.

And so, Vegeta locked himself in the gravity room for eighteen hours a day. Since he was working much harder than before, harder, in fact, than he would have thought possible, he grew stronger still. However, his progress was considerably slower than it had been before. Vegeta took this as a good sign, thinking that you could only gain so much power before you had to ascend. So he kept at it, believing himself to be almost there.

He hadn't been outside in months, and his normally light brown skin was a few shades paler than was healthy. He broke bones, many bones, lots of ribs (which he could ignore for a while), and each of his arms and legs (which forced him to take a senzu). He was running low on his supply of the healing beans, so he was a bit more cautious. He was not about to ask Bulma for anything.

The first few days after he pushed Bulma away, Vegeta had to fend for himself for food, but he found it appearing at his door again soon enough. This time, however, it didn't smell like her. Before, it always had her scent hovering around it but now there was only the faint tang of metal. She was probably getting a robot to deliver his meals, so she had obviously not forgiven him. Vegeta hadn't seen her since she told him to get out of the kitchen.

Eventually, the small raise in power that he had been getting stopped altogether. No matter what he did, no matter how hard he pushed himself, there was no change. A normal person would have been driven mad long ago by the isolation alone, but he barely noticed it. Vegeta demanded what he was doing wrong to the empty air, if the universe was trying to make him miserable. And he kept training. There wasn't anything else for him to do.

Then, at around the two year mark, there was a knock on his door. To his embarrassment, it actually startled him. It had been so long since he'd seen another person, he had kind of forgotten that they existed.

"Hello?" he asked, then immediately cleared his throat. His voice was very rusty.

"It's Bulma." He was surprised to hear her voice. The last time he saw her was six months ago. But, when he thought about it, who else would visit him?

He dragged himself to the door, not bothering to turn off the machine. "This had better be important," he muttered, pulling the door open.

Vegeta's mouth dropped open slightly when he saw her. Bulma looked like she had aged ten years. Instead of being in that ridiculous blue afro, her hair was straightened and cut short. She had makeup on, but not too much. She was wearing a short, soft-looking dress with a floral pattern and she had small, golden rings in her ears.

"You've changed," he stated. Bulma glanced at him, a coldness in her gaze that hadn't been there before.

"So have you." Her eyes hardened. "Looks like you haven't been taking care of yourself."

"What I do is none of your business," he told her wearily. "Why are you here?"

Bulma sighed. "Yeah, about that. There's something I have to tell you," she said crisply.

"What?" Vegeta sensed that whatever she had to say was important, and so he gave her his full attention.

Bulma looked down at the ground. "...I'm pregnant."

Vegeta did a double take, caught off guard for once. "Oh," he said, unsure of what to say. "And?"

"I just want to make sure that you don't get the wrong idea," Bulma said, raising her hands defensively. "I'm not asking to have you back. I just thought you ought to know, since... since you're the father and all." He nodded slowly, struck by her thoughtfulness. He had done everything he could to make her hate him, and yet she was still being considerate. Is this what it meant to be an Earthling?

"You don't have to do anything for me, but..." she took a deep breath. "Can you be there for the baby? You don't even have to be a real parent, in fact I'd rather that you didn't," she chuckled, "but just make sure that he or she knows they have a father." Bulma looked at him imploringly. "You can even train them, if you want."

All of a sudden, he felt the urge to apologize to her, to promise her that he would be a good father, and it made him angry. There she went again, using her knowledge of him to persuade him do what she wanted, all the while making it seem like it wasn't a big deal. He didn't have to do anything. He almost wanted to refuse just to spite her, but he knew he couldn't. Vegeta would keep the tales of the Saiyan people alive through this child, he would make sure that his offspring knew the truth about their heritage as soon as it could understand. But he wouldn't do anything for anyone until after he had ascended.

Wait, was the blasted woman trying to distract him again?

"I make no promises," he said at last, "but thank you for telling me." Bulma gave a tight nod.

"Well, I suppose that's the best I could hope for. You'll be getting back to your training, then?"

"Yeah." Vegeta already had the door partly closed. "Goodbye," and he shut it.

He stood in the center of the room and listened to her go. For a long time, he just stood there, staring at the wall. What was wrong with him?

To the best of his ability, he had worked as hard as he could. He had trained until his bones snapped, until his over-worked muscles burned, until he thought he would drop dead. But he still wasn't a Super Saiyan. In fact, he hadn't seen any signs that he was ever going to become one.

Vegeta slumped to the ground and swallowed, feeling empty and emotionless. Was this it? Was this all that he was capable of? Could he not push himself any further than this? Face buried in his hands, he tipped over and lay on the ground, not moving. What was even the point anymore? Why do anything?

Even with the gravity machine on all the way, Vegeta still found it pitifully easy to curl up into a little ball and fall asleep.

OoO

Vegeta was running as fast as he could towards a point of light far on the horizon. Everywhere else he looked was pitch black and he couldn't even see the ground beneath his feet. But he knew it was there.

He didn't understand what the light was, but he was almost helpless to go towards it. It was like a force of unimaginable power, and there really wasn't anywhere else he could go.

Vegeta had been running for either an eternity or a few more seconds when he grew curious about the darkness. Something was there with him, he could feel it. Many things, in fact.

He charged up a small chi blast and threw it ahead of him. It exploded, filling the place with white light. Vegeta eagerly looked around.

He was in a long tunnel, probably not man-made. The walls and floor were rough and natural looking. But that wasn't the only thing that he saw.

People were leaning against the walls, as far as the eye could see. They were of every species, not just human. Vegeta, still sprinting towards the light, started as he realized that he knew them. Every single one.

In fact, he couldn't think of anyone who wasn't there. He saw Bulma and everyone who lived at Capsule Corp. He glared at Freeza, momentarily filled with hatred, but it evaporated as he flashed away.

He screeched to a stop as he almost plunged, head-first, into the light. But as he squinted at it, it was really more like the entrance to a huge cave. It was so big that he couldn't see the ceiling or walls, or even the ground. He was standing on a cliff.

The white room seemed to be singing, a song of power and conquering. Vegeta took a step forward, drawn to it. Or rather, he tried to. Because his feet were stuck to the floor and he couldn't lift them.

As he was struggling to break free, a form started to materialize in the room. Vegeta paused long enough to watch it turn into Kakarrot, then returned to his work, anger surging through his veins.

"Hey, Vegeta!" Kakarrot called out cheerfully. He was a Super Saiyan, his golden hair hard to make out against the white background. "Man, you should be here right now. It's amazing!" He tilted his head back and closed his eyes. "Power like you wouldn't believe."

"I know," Vegeta growled. He could feel it, the raw energy seeping out of Kakarrot. It was a staggering amount already and he wasn't even fighting yet. This kind of power shouldn't be possible.

Every cell in his body yearned to join Kakarrot, to experience what it was like to be a Super Saiyan. But he couldn't free himself.

"Need any help?" Kakarrot asked. "I could probably break you out in two seconds flat." He offered his hand.

Vegeta spat at it. "No. I can do it by myself. Leave me alone."

Kakarrot drifted forward. "But I'll be able to do it! All you have to do is take my hand and then you can join me." Vegeta shook his head.

Kakarrot floated closer to him, face suddenly menacing. "Take it," he commanded in an unfamiliar voice. "Take it or you die with the weak." Vegeta tried to take a step back and found that he could move again. He spun off into the darkness, fleeing from the other Saiyan.

He looked blindly over his shoulder and saw that Kakarrot was gaining on him. He cursed his foolishness. How could he expect himself to get away from a Super Saiyan? He was a coward. Better to face him.

Vegeta whirled around and braced himself. "What is it that you want from me?" he yelled. Kakarrot slowed and hovered before him, an unearthly glow surrounding him.

"Vegeta," he whispered, "you think you can ascend like me?"

Vegeta slowly nodded. "Yeah I do," he said.

"Then you are a fool! Your destiny is not to walk the path of a Super Saiyan. It is to rot with the mediocre fighters. Give up. You just don't have what it takes." And with that, Kakarrot and the white light disappeared.

Standing alone in the darkness, Vegeta clenched his teeth. How dare he? It wasn't Kakarrot's place to tell him what he was and wasn't capable of. He felt angry enough to kill, it didn't matter who, he just need to destroy something. If there was going to be a Super Saiyan, it should have been him. He felt sick. He was the strongest of his race, it should have been him. This wasn't right, this couldn't be his destiny, it wasn't fair...

It was supposed to be him.

With a gasp, Vegeta snapped awake as suddenly as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on his head. It was just a dream. He groaned. Before he went to sleep, he had just given up his last remaining hope of ever becoming a Super Saiyan. Why? It wasn't like him give up. But the situation seemed so hopeless...

What if his dream was right?

This time, the thought that maybe he just wasn't good enough to ascend filled him with rage instead of defeat. Why would he give up, now of all times? This was just an incentive to work even harder. He would stop trying to keep his body intact. He would shatter every bone he had, if it meant becoming a Super Saiyan.

But that wasn't good enough. The hatred that he felt towards Kakarrot and himself was like nothing he had ever experienced before. It was massive, consuming him, pushing him to new heights of awareness. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this furious. Growing up under Freeza, being forced to retreat from Earth, even when he found out that Kakarrot had become a Super Saiyan instead of him- all paled in comparison to his anger. It was almost a living thing on its own.

Hardly aware he was doing it, Vegeta got up off the floor and stood in the middle of the room, eyes closed and arms at his sides. His teeth chattered and he clenched his hands tightly into fists as he entered an almost trance-like state.

In his mind's eye, he was once again in the dark plane with the light off in the distance. He sailed towards it with impossible speed -much faster than he had gone before- and before he could think about how he had gotten stuck at the entrance he burst through and was in the white dimension.

A shudder passed through Vegeta's body and the vision was gone. He slowly opened his eyes to a new world.

On the surface, Vegeta didn't know what had happened, underneath that, he suspected but didn't dare believe, but at the very bottom of his soul he knew.

With awe, as if in a dream, Vegeta raised a hand in front of his face. There was a faint white aura surrounding it, constantly flickering like flames.

And then he wasn't able to stay still any longer. There was some huge force inside him that demanded action, that wasn't content to lie around. Forgetting, for once, about the gravity machine, (he could have been weightless, for all he knew) Vegeta unlocked the door and, barely trying at all, sprinted out at a speed that far surpassed what he had been capable of before. Instantly, he was at the end of a hallway that had a huge window in the place of a wall. Without pausing, Vegeta somersaulted once and then smashed right through it, feet first, and took to the air, soaring over West City.

As the sun shone on him from above, warming his face, he felt all the limits that had frustrated him to no end slip away. All that was left was a massive, astonishing reservoir of power. What power! It felt like he could do anything.

It was marvelous.

In the blink of an eye, Vegeta was out over the ocean. He caught his reflection in the water, nothing more than a streak of golden light, and he could finally think again.

He had done it.

Laughing with glee, he swooped closer to the sea and his aura alone was enough to part the water into two giant waves that crashed together in his wake. He flipped and rolled as he cut through the air, whooping with joy. He felt happy enough to burst. I did it! I did it! he kept chanting to himself.

Finally, when he had had enough, he drifted to a stop and hovered right above the ocean. As the wind whipped his pale gold hair around him, he stared into the horizon peacefully, a huge weight lifted from his shoulders. He hadn't felt this relaxed in what seemed like forever, but in reality had only been a few months.

Glancing down at the water again, Vegeta smiled. His eyes, while just as piercing as they had been before, had shifted from black to light green. His hair was, of course, yellow, and his white aura blew around him with the breeze. Altogether, he looked like some divine being which just goes to show how much looks can be misleading. He was no good spirit. Kakarrot, maybe. But him? He was an angel of death.

A positively malicious grin grew on his face as he thought about how no one could stop him now. He now understood how Kakarrot had overpowered Freeza. With this unlimited speed and strength that he had access to, defeating the overlord would be child's play.

Looking off into the distance again, Vegeta took a deep, even breath and then released it. So you didn't have to be pure of heart to ascend.

He had been in this form for all of five minutes now and Vegeta was already having to focus just to hold on to it. He let it go, watching his hair darken to black and the white aura dissolve. He would practice activating and being a Super Saiyan for longer periods of time later. For now, he just wanted to take it easy.

Vegeta flew back the way he came at a leisurely pace, still high on excitement. He had done it. It had taken him much longer than he expected, but now everything would be fine. He couldn't picture anything that could challenge his newfound power -much less a few cans of wires and spare parts- and after the androids were taken care of, he would finally deal with Kakarrot.

When he got home, Vegeta spent the rest of the day trying to call the Super Saiyan back. He managed to do it once more, to his delight it wasn't nearly as hard as it had been to become it in the first place. And when he had retired to his room, a trace of a smile still played on his lips.

At last.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Five months later

Vegeta flew back to Capsule Corp. after spending the morning exploring the world. He was still spending a good portion of his time training, but now that he was a Super Saiyan he wasn't as desperate to get stronger. He sensed that spending every waking moment in the gravity room wouldn't help him as much as it had before. And he missed the outdoors: the fresh air, the wind.

Vegeta ran inside to the gravity room, purposely avoiding any chi he felt. He wanted to spend as much time alone as he could before it was time to fight.

Once he was inside, he swiftly dialled up the gravity. His base form had grown a lot stronger ever since he had first transformed, but 300 Gs still killed his speed. He took a deep breath, focused on a point on the wall and released the Super Saiyan. It had taken some work, but Vegeta could now call it up at will.

Energy exploded out from inside him and stray bits of rubble scattered, blown away by his transformation.

Vegeta immediately felt comfortable in the heavy gravity and he easily began one of the toughest training drills he knew. Training wasn't so much about getting stronger anymore, more like just getting used to being a Super Saiyan for longer periods of time. Although the gravity felt like nothing at first, it did take its toll eventually; the complex, mentally demanding exercises and the 300 G's made it harder for him to stay Super. It wouldn't do for him to lose his concentration in the midst of a fight, so Vegeta was taking no chances.

"Vegeta!"

He was forcefully broken out of his training-induced trance by the sound of Bulma shouting his name from the hallway. For a second, Vegeta got a disorientating case of déjà vu and his grip on the Super Saiyan wavered. But he quickly reclaimed it, and vowed to work harder than ever as he went to answer the door. Pulling it open, Bulma was nowhere to be found.

"Bulma?" he poked his head out into the hallway and saw her. She was running towards him and looking very pregnant. She ground to a halt in front of him, eyes wide and panting.

"Oh my god, you did it," Bulma gasped, after taking one look at him. Vegeta realized that she didn't know and smiled. "Wow. Congratulations." She took a few seconds to catch her breath, then winced. "Okay, I am having contractions right now, I'm on my way to the hospital and I'll be gone for a few days. Just thought I'd let you know. I'll probably bring him over to meet you when I get back. Oh yeah, it's a boy!" she paused, greedily sucking in air, then continued. "I'm freaking out right now so I have to go and I'll see you later!" And with that, she ran off.

Vegeta stood there, feeling a strange combination of amusement and shock. Well. Nice of her to stop by and tell him that his son was going to be born. Of course, the gravity room was close to the garage where all the cars were so it would have been on her way.

He sat down right where he was and thought. Even for him, this was a bit much to take in. He had forgotten that Bulma was pregnant and her twelve second visit had left him speechless. So he was going to be a father. Vegeta didn't know how he felt about that yet. He had no experience working with children, to him they were just adults that weren't done yet.

He should probably just play it by ear. His son would be different from the rest, he knew that, so there was really no point in learning anything about parenting. That would be Bulma's job.

Vegeta abruptly stood up and spun around. No use thinking about it any longer. He had training to do.

OoO

Two days later

Vegeta paused in mid-punch. Bulma's chi, which had been stationary at the hospital for the past while, had started moving towards him. Despite himself, his stomach gave a small flutter of nerves. Coming his way was his son, and he hated the utter uncertainty that nagged at him. He didn't know the first thing about being a father, but if Kakarrot could do it, so could he -and better.

Vegeta stopped his training altogether and eased back into his normal form, knowing that he couldn't pay attention enough to keep going. He paced restlessly around the room, moving in sudden jerks. _Pull yourself together!_ he chided in his mind. _It's just an infant, for crying out loud!_ Still, the sooner he got this over with, the better.

Their progress was painfully slow. He knew that humans would always be humans, but still. This was ridiculous. It would probably take them at least another ten minutes just to pull up to Capsule Corps.'s driveway.

Vegeta stopped his pacing and shook his head with a laugh. This was stupid. What was he worrying about? He grinned, amused at himself, all of his tension suddenly gone. He was the Prince of all Saiyans and nothing was going to change that. Not when the Saiyan race was reduced to two, not having a son. Nothing.

He ran out the door and a few seconds later was in his bathroom, pulling a comb through his hair. He didn't really care what Bulma thought of his appearance, but it passed the time and if he didn't untangle it occasionally then it would get hopelessly knotty.

Afterwards, he splashed cold water on his face and went out to the hallway. Okay, that had helped. They were almost there. Vegeta estimated that they would be pulling up in about thirty seconds.

He jogged through Capsule Corp. at an easy pace that he could keep up indefinitely without getting tired. That killed off another ten seconds. Finally, he decided to just give up and meet them at the door. Vegeta walked almost as slowly as a human so he got there just as Bulma was getting out of the car.

Capsule Corp.'s foyer was empty and he casually leaned against the wall, waiting for Bulma and his son. He saw three humanoid figures approaching the door through the frosted glass.

The door opened, light spilling into the dim room, and there was Bulma. A little bundle was cradled in her arms, and she was looking over her shoulder at her parents.

"Okay, I'll see you at dinner," she was saying. Then she stepped through the doorway, her parents staying behind. For a moment, Vegeta just watched her curiously. Her shoulders slumped, she closed her eyes and sighed. Bulma looked run down. But as soon as she glanced down at the blankets in her arms, a smile appeared on her face.

"Hello," Vegeta said, stepping out of the shadows. He had to restrain a laugh as she spun around, a look of horror on her face.

"Vegeta!" she hissed, hand on her chest. "Don't _do_ that! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Not my fault that you didn't see me standing there." Vegeta grinned. He hadn't meant to startle her, but that didn't make it any less hilarious.

"Ugh. Whatever," Bulma said, rolling her eyes. "So you want to see him?" she said, perking up. He nodded, moving closer, and she held up their son.

Despite his mother jumping three feet in the air, the baby was sleeping peacefully. He only had a few strands of pale hair, so all Vegeta knew about his hair color was that it wasn't black. Would the child grow up to have blue hair like Bulma?

"First impressions?" Bulma asked. "You can't tell right now, but he has your eyes. Even when he's happy, it's like he's angry. He looks _mean_." Vegeta crossed his arms and chose to ignore that.

"Nothing seems inherently wrong with him," he said. Bulma beamed.

"Great! Now we just have to name him." Vegeta groaned. "Hey, it won't be so bad." Bulma elbowed him in the ribs. "You haven't given this any thought at all, have you."

"No. What were you thinking of?"

"Trunks!" she exclaimed. "What do you think? Kind of has a nice ring to it, right?" She was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet with excitement, and Vegeta stared at her. Was this how new parents acted? Because honestly, he wasn't feeling it. All his anxiety up until this point seemed like over-reacting. It really wasn't that big a deal, he could see that now.

"Trunks," he snorted, realization dawning. "Keeping the tradition alive, I see." She shrugged, grinning sheepishly. "Okay, fine. I can think of worse names."

"Do you want to hold him?" she asked, offering Trunks.

"No," he said bluntly, turning to walk away. He wanted to be alone and think.

"Hey, come back!" she called after him. "How did you finally do it?" He ignored her and sped up. "Wait, Vegeta-"

He rounded the corner and was out of earshot.

His life was changing again and again, and Vegeta barely had time to catch his breath before he was in a different place. Would this constant shifting of realities ever stop?

OoO

May 12th

5:37 AM

Vegeta took the cardboard box down from the shelf in his closet, blowing the dust off the top. Fresh from the shower, he was holding a battle suit that he had gotten Bulma to make for him. Once Bulma had gotten over the high of being a new mother, Vegeta could tell that she hadn't completely forgiven him for breaking her delicate, human heart. There was an unspoken agreement between the two of them to pretend that they had never slept with each other, which was just as well. Vegeta had no use for romance of any sort- he had learned his lesson.

All in all, when he had told Bulma to make him a set of armor like the kind he used to wear, she did it without complaint. And now it was time to put it to good use.

Carefully, Vegeta lifted the lid off and tossed it aside. Emptying the contents on his bed, he scrutinized Bulma's work.

The gloves, boots and navy blue bodysuit were identical to the ones he had worn before, but the armor was different, having straps instead of shoulder pads. It would do, better than having to fight in a gi like the Earthlings and Kakarrot. He wasn't one of them, he would not wear their clothes.

Stepping into the suit and pulling on the boots and gloves, Vegeta had to acknowledge that Bulma had done a good job. Other than the obvious stylistic differences, her armor was exactly the same as his old gear. She had even gotten the breastplate to stretch.

Vegeta quickly did a few fighting drills, testing out the flexibility. To his satisfaction, he found that it was just as easy to move around in as Freeza's armor had been. Now it was time to leave.

Dashing through the halls of Capsule Corp., Vegeta stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the open doorway to Bulma's room. He looked inside to find her sprawled out on her bed, Trunks wrapped in her arms, both asleep. Vegeta gazed at them curiously. Their hearts belonged to him, for him to do what he wanted with. He wouldn't use that connection, however, they could live out their small lives in peace and comfort.

Vegeta, however, had a fight to get to.

Shaking his head, he sped out of the mansion. Relationships were complicated, which was one of the reasons why he didn't try to build them. They were messy, distracting, time-consuming, and not worth it at all. They just made you weak.

Out on the ocean, heading towards South City, Vegeta momentarily stopped anticipating the fight and just enjoyed the crisp, early-morning air. Earth wasn't so bad. Maybe he could tolerate living here after all.

Vegeta knew that there was plenty of time to spare so he didn't hurry. After three years' worth of build-up, he actually felt calm and relaxed. At least one person was going to die by his hands today, and he was looking forward to fighting an actual creature after training alone for the past while.

Vegeta found the right island and camped out on a small rock poking out of the sea near it. He closed his eyes and went over training routines in his head. Sometimes he jumped up and down to keep his blood flowing, and the hours slowly ticked by.

Impatiently, Vegeta scanned the horizon. Maybe it was a mistake to have come so early. But finally, he spotted a group of four dots quickly moving through the sky. They came to a stop above the island. Probably Kakarrot and his friends.

They landed on the island and for a long time nothing happened. Vegeta decided that he would join them when the fight started, but for now he'd keep his distance.

A hovercar was shot out of the air, and Vegeta got up when he felt the chi levels of the group spike. But nobody was actually fighting yet, so he stayed put.

Interesting... he couldn't feel any chi other than the Earthlings. So robots didn't give off energy. How annoying.

Suddenly, half of the town on the island exploded. As the smoke cleared away, nothing was left but smoldering ruins.

Vegeta laughed. That would be the androids. And, sure enough, he saw two forms rise out from the wreckage then blast away, Kakarrot and his friends close behind.

Vegeta flexed his gloved hands, grinned, and took off from his rock, following them.

Showtime.

**END OF PART 1**


	6. Chapter 6

Part two: Endless Pursuit

Chapter Six

For the past three days, Vegeta had stood on the same stone ledge in the middle of the desert.

After all that had happened -his shameful defeat at the hands of no. 18, the revelation of Cell's existence, being surpassed by _Piccolo_- he felt dazed. The only thing inside him other than emptiness was the constant, dull rage. It gnawed at him, sometimes almost undetectable, sometimes not, always burning. He could not accept this- he would not. Even after all that he had suffered just to become a Super Saiyan, he still found himself out-classed. This was absurd.

He had narrowed down the courses of action to two choices: quitting -which was _not _a serious option- or getting stronger still. It had to be possible to transcend the Super Saiyan. The Namekian had grown more powerful than Vegeta, Saiyans were the superior species, and Vegeta was Saiyan royalty. It was simple logic. He would do it, somehow. He _must._

He had fled to the desert to be alone with his thoughts, but Trunks had soon hunted him down. He had requested that Vegeta be his sparring partner, but Vegeta had refused. For now, at least, he had no desire to train with his so-called son from the future. He'd tried to drive him off, but Trunks had stubbornly refused to leave unless Vegeta agreed to his proposal. So the Saiyan Prince had simply ignored him, which was easy because Trunks didn't make a sound. The boy had some tact, Vegeta had to admit.

Over the next few days, he explored his limits in his mind. Although a great deal bigger than they had been before, Vegeta discovered that they were still there. He mentally examined them, prodded them, tested their strength. They would probably be too much for him to overcome the way he was now. But Vegeta was sure that he could do it- eventually. He just needed time, and lots of it.

He entered a meditative state of mind where time passed unevenly, something akin to hibernation. In the white room, Vegeta pictured a small, almost invisible fissure in one of its walls. He just needed to widen it and then he would have access to whatever was on the other side. The only question was how he could do it. Vegeta wasn't even sure if there was a crack at all or if it was just wishful thinking on his part.

He was broken out of his thoughts when Kakarrot and his child appeared somewhere behind him. Vegeta rolled his eyes in irritation. What would it take for him to be left alone? They were distracting, their undisguised chis grabbing his unwilling attention, the wind muffling their conversation into an annoying hum. He didn't need this.

As Vegeta stared off into the desert, Kakarrot landed on his stone platform.

"You're in my way, Kakarrot," he said without turning around. "Get lost." He had little patience for the other Saiyan.

"Don't be so surly. I know a great place to train," Kakarrot said calmly. Vegeta sincerely doubted that there could be a better place than the gravity room at Capsule Corp., which would take too long. He was just about to explain what would happen if Kakarrot didn't get off his rock in five seconds when Kakarrot spoke again.

"There's a room where you can spend a whole year in one day at Kami sama's palace." That got his attention.

"Really?" Vegeta asked, looking over his shoulder at Kakarrot. That was exactly what he needed but didn't have. An extra year to train.

"Yeah," Kakarrot said with a smile. "Come with me. You don't have to train _with _me or anything, but it's only set up for two people. You'll have to go in with Trunks since we're short on time." Trunks would be more bearable than Kakarrot, true. And Vegeta would benefit with having someone to train with more than going at it alone, he knew that now. When he thought about it, it was really a no-brainer.

"Fine," Vegeta said. "But we'll go in first, got that?" He would be the one to defeat Cell.

"Sure," Kakarrot replied easily. Then he addressed their sons. "Okay everybody, let's go to Kami's!" They all took off.

As they were flying, Vegeta smiled to himself. This was an unexpected surprise. He would train at least twice as hard as he had before, for a full year, and then he would come back with enough power to easily best Cell and the androids alike.

This time, he would become the strongest of them all.

OoO

Vegeta flew back to Capsule Corp., barely paying attention to the passing landscape, his dull eyes unfocused. Cell was dead, along with Kakarrot and Trunks, everyone had gone their separate ways and he felt numb. Even his constant companion, the anger that kept him going, was gone. He had spent two extra years training _and yet he still had lost_.

He gave up. Since Kakarrot, his goal, was gone, what was the point of trying anymore? While he disliked Son Gohan, he really didn't have a grudge against him, other than the fact that he was Kakarrot's spawn. Besides, he had seen the boy's power. How was he supposed to stand up to that? Just being around the boy when he was fighting Cell set Vegeta's teeth on edge. It was a staggering amount of raw energy, one that he knew he could never obtain. And what was the point of trying if he couldn't be the strongest? But there was nothing worse than a warrior who didn't fight, and fighting was all he knew.

Where did he go from here? He didn't exactly want to die, but he couldn't think of any reasons to live, either.

Vegeta decided to stop thinking about the future, for now, and focus on his immediate needs. Go back to Capsule Corp., get food. Good, that was nice and simple.

He flew back to the round mansion that he had come to know as home. Touching down in front of it, Vegeta admitted to himself that he could have done a lot worse. At least he wasn't living in one of the matchbox-sized houses that was standard fare for the common rabble. Moments after he walked through the door, Bulma appeared.

"Vegeta!" She ran up and threw her arms around him. "Thank goodness! I was so worried."

He stiffened in her embrace but didn't pull away. Worried? After all he had done to get rid of her... she still cared about him. And maybe Vegeta didn't mind her as much as he used to. Since he wasn't going to be preoccupied with training anymore... hmm...

Vegeta would explore this later, but for now he wasn't ready. However, the future was already looking a little better, and he was grateful to her for that. Even if he wasn't used to it, it was nice to know that someone was on his side, whether he wanted it or not.

"So what happened? How did the battle go?" Bulma asked eagerly.

"Ask Trunks when he gets back," he muttered, pushing past her. "I need to shower." He didn't mention the fact that their son had been murdered by Cell. He would be back to life soon enough, courtesy of the dragon balls and Overly Generous Earthlings. He was still ashamed of how he'd lost control and unthinkingly attacked Cell in a fit of rage. It disturbed him, how much Trunks' death had affected him. He couldn't remember the last time he had even considered fighting for someone other than himself.

But Trunks had been the closest thing he had to an ally in that group of misfits. He was his own flesh and blood, time difference or not. Still, he would be resurrected soon enough.

After he was showered, dressed in normal clothes, and his armor had been disposed of (too many unpleasant reminders), Vegeta lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling. Where should he go now? He had lost his rival, along with his motivation. Backing out looked like the only option.

He didn't want to do this. For the first time he could remember, Vegeta was sick of having to take care of everything personally. He needed advice, he needed...

"Bulma," Vegeta mouthed her name. Why not? She was the most logical choice. Out of everyone he had met on Earth, she actually seemed to like him. And, he realized, maybe he liked her, too. He wasn't sure why, but he found her easier to be around than all the other humans. He knew she would be happy to help him. Vegeta flopped back on the bed. Maybe he could try this whole "caring" thing. He could try to be a father, a real one, and a partner.

Maybe that's why Kakarrot had been so powerful. If Vegeta had a family to protect too, would he discover the other Saiyan's secret? It was worth a shot.

For now, though, he was exhausted, the long day finally catching up to him. As he glanced out the window, he saw that the sky had gone dark. _That'll be the dragon balls, _he thought sleepily. _So my son is ali_ve _once again._ Yawning, Vegeta stretched out on his bed like a cat and fell asleep.

OoO

Vegeta blearily opened his eyes as sunlight streamed into his room, feeling abnormally groggy and disoriented. He let out a breath. He must have slept a long time.

Glancing at his alarm clock, he did some quick mental math. It was eight in the morning and he had gotten out of the shower at around five... He had slept for a solid fifteen hours. That had to be some sort of record for him.

Vegeta got off the bed and stretched, his stomach growling. He was famished. He quickly used the bathroom and changed his clothes, then set off to find something to eat.

To his dismay, he found everyone was already in the breakfast room, Trunks included. However, Vegeta was too hungry to care. He could tolerate Mrs. Briefs for a little while.

"Hello, dear!" the woman in question greeted him. "Help yourself to breakfast." She gestured to a huge pile of pancakes stacked up on a plate in the middle of the table. "There's more coming, so don't be shy."

He silently pulled up a chair and served himself five pancakes.

"So I'm going back home today," Trunks said. Vegeta noticed that someone had cut his hair. Their Trunks, the baby, watched his older self with wide eyes.

"Mm," Vegeta said, his mouth full. To be honest, he was glad. He had come to respect Trunks but he knew that he was out of his time. He should go back to the future where he belonged.

"Where did you disappear off to last night?" Bulma asked. "Training?"

"No. I slept." Vegeta drank some orange juice. He turned to Trunks. "When are you leaving?"

Trunks looked at his wristwatch. "Oh, in a few hours. Some of our fr- um, _allies, _want to see me off, so they're coming over." Vegeta returned to his food. He supposed he ought to be there as well.

Finished, he stood up from the table and left without a word. If he wasn't going to train in the gravity room anymore, he may as well find a hobby of some sort. Vegeta vaguely recalled someone telling him that Capsule Corp. had a library. He decided to find it; books were a good way to pass the time and he hadn't bothered with Earth's literature before.

After a few minutes of searching, he came to a wooden door with a sign saying "Library" above it. The letters were golden metal and the doorframe was decorated with intricate carvings.

Pushing inside, Vegeta looked around at Capsule Corp.'s library, mildly impressed. It was a huge room with wooden tables clustered together in the center, the walls lined with bookshelves. It had a spiral staircase leading up to the second floor, which was really just a ring-shaped platform circling the walls. He could see all the way up to the domed ceiling, which had a mural of a great waterfall painted on it. Every few bookshelves was a red armchair and a reading lamp. Each shelf had a letter of the English alphabet stamped on it.

With every breath in, Vegeta's lungs were filled with the heady scent of oak and old paper. Where should he start? Not knowing any Earth books or authors, the index was useless to him.

Spying a stray book lying on one of the tables, Vegeta went over and picked it up. It was a large, softcover book titled "Amphigorey Too" by Edward Gorey. "Too"? Was this a sequel of some sort? On the cover were twelve panels, each one holding a large letter, and together they spelled out the title of the book. This looked interesting enough. He moved over to one of the soft armchairs and opened the book.

There was a table of contents, sans page numbers, with strange titles. It looked like a book of short stories. He flipped to the first one, "The Beastly Baby", and began to read.

Each page had four frameless panels with a drawing and a few lines written underneath. The drawings were simple, dark but easy to read. The story was mostly spent describing a freakish infant who eventually was dropped, hundreds of feet above the ground, by an eagle. Vegeta suppressed a laugh when he finished. Was this what Earth books were like? If so, he may have to revise his general impressions of the planet. Eagerly, he went on to the next story.

After he finished, Vegeta was grinning. _So the Earthlings do have a dark side, after all, _he thought. Getting up, he walked over to the "G" shelf. He wanted to see if Gorey had any more books. Sure enough, he soon found another one called "Amphigorey". He immediately began to read it.

Right in the middle of a story called "The Gashlycrumb Tinies" that was a couplet detailing the deaths of small children while going through the alphabet, Vegeta noticed three higher-than-average chi levels coming towards the building. So it was time for Trunks to leave. Reluctantly, he left the book and went off the find the others.

The entire Briefs family plus Yamcha, Kuririn, Gohan, the old man, the two shapeshifters and Trunks were gathered together outside, saying their goodbyes. Vegeta leaned against a tree on the outskirts of the gathering, crossing his arms. He watched as everyone wished Trunks good luck with his androids, patting him on the back and shaking his hand. He turned slightly and noticed Vegeta. The Prince looked his comrade in the eye and raised two fingers in a salute. There wasn't really anything else he needed to say.

Trunks smiled a little and went back to the group. As he got in his time machine, Vegeta noticed how happy everyone was. Of course, it was peacetime for them so they were celebrating. Vegeta had been stripped of his pride, his rival and his will to fight. He wasn't in the best mood at the moment, though he had briefly forgotten his demons while reading.

The ship rose in the air and, with one last wave to all of them, Trunks disappeared.

"Good luck, Trunks!" they all cheered. After that, Gohan, Kuririn and Kame Sen'nin left and the group disbanded. Vegeta turned to leave, but he froze when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Glancing behind him, he saw that it was Bulma.

"Yes?" he said. She looked back and forth, seeing the now deserted courtyard, and smiled hesitantly.

"Hey, I was just wondering if... maybe... you might want to start eating supper with me once in a while again?"

Why was she acting so _shy? _Vegeta grinned. "Sure," he said. That sounded wonderful.

"So you've changed your mind?" Bulma asked hopefully. Oh yeah, he did say that he didn't want to see her anymore.

"Well, seeing as I'm a Super Saiyan now, I can afford to let some distractions in my life." Bulma looked at him curiously.

"I distract you?" she asked, a small smile on her face. Vegeta stared back at her, one eyebrow raised in amusement. After a few seconds, Bulma cleared her throat.

"Okay, when's a good day of the week for you?"

He shrugged. "Any one, it doesn't matter. How about tonight?"

She blinked. "Aren't you busy with training?"

"No," Vegeta said, looking away.

"What? Why? Are you sick or something?" Bulma asked, concerned. He shook his head. "Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he mumbled. He'd forgotten how nosy she could be. Why was she giving him the third degree over this? For that matter, why did he seem to care what she thought?

"Vegeta, look at me," she took his chin in her hand and turned his head towards her. "Do your plans for the future not include training?"

He batted her hand away. "No, they don't. Now can you just drop it?"

She stood there, frozen, her hand over her mouth. "Oh god, this is because Goku's dead, isn't it?" He blinked, surprised. Was he so easy to see through?

"... Yes," he said after a long pause.

"So you're abstaining now?" She said it like it was a bad thing.

"I guess so. Why do you sound so disgusted? I thought you hated fighting."

"It's just... sorry, but I can't picture you doing this." She took a deep breath. "Vegeta, I think you should keep training. It's what you _do_, you can't just decide to stop all of a sudden." His resolve was weakening by the second. How did she do this? It was almost sorcery. But he couldn't change his mind. He had made a decision and he would stick to it.

"No," he said quietly. "... They're too strong."

Bulma stepped forwards and grabbed his arms. This time, he didn't brush her off. "Since when has that ever stopped you?" She leaned forwards and gently squeezed his shoulders. "Vegeta, it's okay to back out of something. I won't tell anyone..." Her face was full of genuine worry.

Vegeta closed his eyes, torn. Even though he hated being told what to do by other people, Bulma had a point, as always. He gritted his teeth. Since when had things gotten so complicated? Oh right, since he had decided to quit.

"... Okay," he said softly. "I'll keep training." Bulma smiled.

"You listened to me," she murmured. "Thank you." Suddenly, Vegeta grabbed her and pulled her close to him. He heard her gasp, but she didn't try to escape.

"We have a son," he whispered in her ear.

"Um, yeah, I noticed," Bulma said, confused but hugging him back all the same.

"We live in the same house."

"And your point is...?" she said. He twisted to look at her.

"And yet we're not married." Her mouth dropped open in surprise.

"Wait, what?" Bulma stuttered, and Vegeta could feel her heart beat faster underneath their clothes. He studied her.

"Do you love me?" he asked bluntly. She visibly swallowed.

"Um... I don't really know how to answer that..." she said faintly.

"With the truth."

She held him tighter and looked away. After a long time, she gave the smallest of nods. He smiled, and turned her head to face him like she had done to him.

"Will you marry me?"

She stared at him, looking absolutely shocked. The widest grin he had ever seen slowly spread across her face.

"Okay," she said.

"Let's have dinner," he said, pulling away. "Oh, and I'm not entirely clear on your Earth traditions, but I am _not _changing my last name to Briefs." Bulma burst out laughing.

"You won't have to," she said after she had calmed down. "That's the girl's job, unless they don't want to." He grinned back at her, and they walked back to their home, hand in hand.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

7 years later

Bobbidi's spaceship

Vegeta crossed his arms and watched Kakarrot, Gohan and the Lord of Lords gape at the door. A few seconds ago, Gohan had been trying to fight Dabra in the desert. Then they had all been teleported back here. The constantly changing locations were really starting to annoy him.

The Demon King had just left them, claiming that he needn't bother to stay because he had found the "perfect fighter". Vegeta didn't care who it was, he just wanted to get this idiotic quest over with so he could fight Kakarrot before he went back to the underworld. He had been given one last chance to settle the score between them, he wasn't going to let it slip past him.

As the others discussed something -he wasn't really paying attention as to what it actually was- Vegeta gave a small growl of frustration. How had he let Kakarrot talk him into this?

_Bam._

Vegeta jolted as he felt the strangest feeling. It was as if some unknown presence was forcing its way into his mind.

_Join me._

Immediately, it started to try and take his will from him. With a cry of surprise, Vegeta doubled over, clutching his head. While it wasn't exactly painful, he instantly hated the feeling. It was like there was something inside his skull, trying to rearrange everything. Instinctively, Vegeta fought against the invader.

_Give in, Vegeta, _the presence commanded. Vegeta, fingers clenched into claws, jerked up as he became a Super Saiyan against his will. But he still hadn't given over to the mighty force, even though the urge was almost overpowering. He felt his resolve weakening but he steeled himself and didn't lose any more ground. _No! _He was the Prince of All Saiyans, he would not be used by some... some...

The perfect fighter. Bobbidi was in his mind, using his magic to force Vegeta over to his side.

Hardly aware of what he was doing, so focused was he on fighting the battle inside him, Vegeta heard the Lord of the Lords' voice as if it were miles away.

"Vegeta! Bobbidi's trying to use the evil in you! Empty your mind, don't think about _anything._"

Barely able to concentrate enough to say the words, Vegeta told him to shut up. He would _not _be ordered around, not even by a god.

The world blurred around him as he kept resisting and Vegeta suddenly recalled two of the Budôkai contestants remarking on how much stronger Spopovich had gotten.

_Yes, I will bring out your latent powers, _the voice said silkily as if hearing his thoughts. _All you have to do is give in._

The pressure eased up slightly and Vegeta could think again. He remembered Kakarrot, destroying Yakon with his chi alone. That had disturbed him. Though he was loathe to admit it, Vegeta suspected that Kakarrot had greatly improved in the afterlife. Probably more than he had.

He really didn't want to stoop to getting help from another being, but if it was the only chance he had, then...

As he was hunched over, shaking from head to toe from the strain of resisting, Vegeta sighed inwardly in resignation.

_... I surrender, _he thought, cringing at the words. He could feel Bobbidi's glee as he gave his body over to the warlock. Vegeta's last thought, before he was forced to his feet, screaming, as his hidden potential was painfully ripped out from deep inside him, was of Bulma. Even as he welcomed the old malice and bloodlust that seeped into his veins, he knew she wouldn't want him to have chosen this path. But that didn't matter, he was sick of playing nice and he was almost aching to fight Kakarrot now that all this new energy was flowing through him.

It was time.

OoO

The soul was surrounded by the never-ending void.

It wasn't blackness, because blackness had to _be _something. It was utterly impossible to describe. The soul didn't question it, however, for it knew nothing else; things had just always been this way.

In a disorientatingly fast rush, the soul was jerked away from the void, shoved into a body and its memories returned.

Vegeta reeled, feeling dizzy. He was in a small building, being stared at by horned men in ties. Before him was a huge desk with a huge man sitting behind it. He had a bushy beard, was wearing a pinstriped suit and was also looking at him.

With his memories back, Vegeta knew that he was in the underworld, where the recently deceased were judged by the giant, King Enma.

"What happened?" Vegeta demanded harshly, stepping up to the desk. "Why am I here?" He noticed that he was wearing the dark blue gi that he had died in.

"I called you back," Enma rumbled in his deep voice. "The fight isn't going so well and I figured they might need backup." Vegeta snorted, crossing his arms. Yeah, right. Enma must be really desperate if he was willing to break the law just to bring _him _back.

"They're still fighting?" he asked. "Not that I really care, but I thought I killed Boo."

"Maybe it'll be easier if I showed you a recap," Enma said, pulling out a remote control from his desk. "I got the whole mess recorded." He pointed to a large, blocky television that Vegeta hadn't noticed before.

"Let's see," Enma examined his remote. "I'll find the part right after you died... oh, sorry, should I not mention that? I've found that it's a touchy subject for a lot of people."

Vegeta shrugged. "Whatever." He was dead, and denying that simple fact wasn't going to change anything.

"Got it!" Enma declared, pointing the remote at the TV and pressing a button. The screen flickered to life and Vegeta sat down to watch.

OoO

Afterwards, Vegeta put his head in his hands in exasperation. Enma wasn't kidding when he called it a mess.

"So let me get this straight," he said. "A thinner, far more evil and powerful Boo came out of the fat one, killed him, and now the kids, Piccolo and Gohan (who wasn't dead after all) are fighting him as I speak?" It was almost enough to make him want to go back to exterminating planets. Things were so more... saner... back then.

Enma nodded. "Pretty much. I've called the All-Seeing Crone over to get you back to Earth, since you haven't used your day yet. She should be here any minute now."

Vegeta said nothing, glaring at the floor. What could he do against a monster like that? He couldn't faze Boo when the djinn's power had been a fraction of what it was now.

But he would try. It wasn't like there was much else for him to do, and he would get to hold on to his memories for a little while longer.

Vegeta glanced up just in time to see an old woman dressed in black robes and a pointy hat, perching on a crystal ball, zoom in through the open doorway.

"Ah, there you are!" Enma exclaimed, catching sight of her. "Good, good. We don't have that much time left, so I'm glad you were so fast." Vegeta got up off the floor and walked over to the fortune-teller.

"Hello," he said mildly. She gave him a tight nod of acknowledgement. He didn't know why she was so stressed out. The All-Seeing Crone wasn't the one going to her death.

Well, Vegeta supposed she was. Just not so directly.

"I'm glad I had kept your spirit intact, just in case," Enma said. "And gave you a body, besides." Then he addressed the old hag. "I really don't like this, but please take him to Earth... and hurry."

"If I must," the All-Seeing Crone muttered.

"Resorting to a thug like me, eh?" Vegeta smiled bitterly as her. "I wish I could promise that I'll live up to even your faintest hopes."

"Yes, well, you're the strongest person here who I could bring back," Enma said briskly. "Now go! Before it's too late."

The old woman turned and floated out the door, Vegeta following.

"Stay close to me and we'll travel from this world to Earth," she said.

It was like they were flying through the sky, clouds everywhere, but he couldn't see the ground.

"I'm going to speed up now, so get ready," she said, looking ahead of them.

"Okay."

They shot forwards and flew in silence for a while, occasionally changing direction. After a few minutes, the Crone suddenly dipped down into the clouds, Vegeta close behind.

And they were soaring over the familiar landmasses of planet Earth. Now that he was back, Vegeta could feel the stunning power of Boo's chi. Still, it was nice to be back. But there was someone else with Boo, in fact, it felt a lot like...

"Sorry, but this is as close as I'll go. I'm too scared," the All-Seeing Crone said, breaking his train of thought. "Good luck."

"Don't worry about it," Vegeta said tensely, staring off in the direction of the chi. "It only postpones me getting killed yet _again._"

The old woman had turned to leave and Vegeta was just getting ready to set off when a familiar face materialized right in front of him, startling them both.

"Vegeta!" Kakarrot yelled in relief. "Yeah, it _is_ you!"

"Ka...karrot?" Vegeta said slowly. His time on Earth was supposed to be gone, what was he doing here? There wasn't a halo above his head anymore, had he gotten brought back to life somehow? No matter. How could he show his face after he had deceived Vegeta? Curse him.

"G-Goku!" the All-Seeing Crone stuttered, "Am I seeing things? H- how can you be... but I don't understand... you've come back to life and-"

"Talk later!" Kakarrot interrupted urgently. "You get out of here, Boo's coming fast!" That did the trick. With a small shriek, the old woman zipped away.

Kakarrot turned to Vegeta. "So King Enma kept your body around? Smart move on his part." Vegeta ignored him. If Boo was coming to kill both of them, then why the hell was he making small talk? Sometimes it was blindingly obvious that he had been raised on Earth.

"Vegeta. Put this Potara earring on your right ear." Kakarrot held out a small red ball on a chain. "Please!"

Vegeta examined the object sullenly. "Why?" he asked.

"So we can combine!" Kakarrot enthused. "We'll be unbeatable!"

Vegeta smirked. He must be joking. "Combine? You actually think I'd combine with _you_? Don't make me laugh!"

Kakarrot swallowed. "I knew you'd say that! But it's the only way to beat Boo."

Vegeta turned away from him. "In that case, I'd rather die." He watched the horizon, feeling Boo's chi getting closer and closer and sending silent curses upon Kakarrot.

The other Saiyan spoke, getting more and more panicked, no doubt trying to convince Vegeta to go along with his silly little plan. He wasn't paying him any attention.

"I hate you for it..." Vegeta muttered through gritted teeth. Kakarrot stopped talking, waiting for him to continue.

"When you fought me, you hid your true strength!" Vegeta exploded. "Were you manipulating me- or mocking me? I saw it all in the afterlife. 'Super Saiyan _three_'? You turn my stomach!" He lowered his voice, but couldn't conceal the hatred dripping from it. "You think I want to be _one _with _you_?"

Kakarrot's shoulders slumped and he hung his head in shame. "I-I'm sorry," he said, his voice small. "There was a limit to how long I could transform, I had to save it for later, just in case..."

"Don't make excuses," Vegeta snarled. "The facts don't change. You mocked me."

"How about this fact!" Kakarrot shouted. "Boo ate everybody else! Even Bulma! Piccolo, Gohan, Goten, and _Trunks_, he absorbed them all! That's how he suddenly got stronger!"

Vegeta inhaled sharply. No. Kakarrot was lying! But deep down, he knew the other Saiyan spoke the truth. Bulma's chi was normally hard to make out, but there was no sign of Trunks'.

That monster had murdered his wife and son. This was unacceptable.

All of a sudden, he hated Boo more than Kakarrot. How dare he? He would make the djinn suffer for this, _nobody _touched his family.

They both caught sight of Boo at the same time.

"V-Vegeta!" Kakarrot cried desperately. Vegeta went rigid in midair, wracking his brain to think of another way, and finding none.

"Give me that!" he yelled, thrusting out his hand. Kakarrot smiled in relief and quickly passed the earring over. Grumbling, Vegeta started to clip it onto his ear. Boo was within 200 feet of them, cackling with laughter and chi ball in hand.

"I should warn you, once we mix we can never split apart," Kakarrot said. Vegeta gasped.

"What?! Oh sure, tell me _now_..." He didn't have a choice at this point, but to be fused with Kakarrot forever... best not to think about it.

"There! Happy?" he snapped, drawing his hands away. The earring held fast to his earlobe.

"Thanks, Vegeta!" Kakarrot said, and Vegeta felt a sort of magnetic pull towards him. Without moving a muscle, the two Saiyans, one flinching and one grinning in relief, crashed together until you couldn't tell one apart from the other.

**END OF PART TWO**


	8. Chapter 8

Part three: the Hidden Planet

Chapter Eight

(Three months after Boo)

Vegeta was drifting through outer space. As he lazily watched the unfamiliar stars, he noticed that he was gradually picking up speed. The pinpricks of light blurred as he shot through the air, faster than he had ever gone before. A dark spot appeared in front of him and Vegeta tried to make out what it was. Maybe a black hole? Whatever it was, something seemed to be sucking him towards it.

It loomed closer, all ominous and foreboding, and he saw that it was a planet of some sort. He braced himself for impact as he smashed into it.

Vegeta was unharmed, though, and he got up and looked around. There was no nearby sun so the surface was pitch black. He looked all around but couldn't make out anything other than the night sky.

After a while, he noticed that there were many pairs of white orbs scattered around him in a circle. One of them blinked. He realized that they were eyes, but he didn't know who or what they belonged to.

Now he could see shadowy figures silhouetted against the starry sky, and one of the eyes drifted forward.

"Come to us," it said in a whisper as cold and delicate as thin ice. "X-98.172 beta C in the Narsala quadrant." Before Vegeta could ask what the stranger was talking about, the whole scene melted away and he opened his eyes.

He was lying on his side in bed, both of his arms wrapped around Bulma. The pale light of morning streamed through the window. Outside, everything was covered in a thick blanket of January snow.

Vegeta held her closer, his dream momentarily forgotten. Bulma yawned as she woke up.

"G'morning," she mumbled sleepily.

"Morning." He buried his face in her shoulder.

"Hey! Your nose is cold!" she complained, trying to get away.

Vegeta smirked. "It's the middle of winter, what do you expect?" he teased.

She twisted around to face him, grinning mischievously. "Oh yeah?"

Vegeta gasped sharply as Bulma intertwined her ankles with his. Her feet were freezing. He shivered, but didn't give her the satisfaction of pulling away.

"Point taken," he said, and Bulma kissed him with a smile.

They lay in bed for a few minutes, not talking, just enjoying the chilly winter morning. But Vegeta's happy, relaxed mood soon left as he remembered his dream. He frowned.

"What's wrong?" his wife asked him curiously. He sat up, more and more of the dream coming back to him.

"I had a dream," he said. Bulma raised her eyebrows.

"Really? But you never dream."

"Yeah. The last one I can remember having was that time in the gravity room, before Trunks was even conceived."

"You mean that Super Saiyan vision thing?" Bulma asked. Vegeta nodded. "So, what was it about this time?"

He relayed the dream to her, up until the point where one of the shadows spoke to him. "... He told me to come find them, and then he said something else..." Vegeta shook his head. "I can't remember. But it wasn't actual words, I think might've been numbers or something."

Bulma rubbed her chin, a thoughtful expression on her face. "You know, this is really puzzling. Do you think your subconsciousness is trying to tell you something?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea."

"How do you feel?" she asked earnestly.

"Hungry."

Bulma laughed. "Me too. Let's have breakfast, we can figure this out later." They both got out of bed and, after taking showers and dressing, went off to find Trunks.

After eating, Vegeta had a two hour long session in the gravity room with his son. Though Trunks was absurdly powerful for being eight years old, Vegeta was teaching him that power and technique went hand in hand. He was making some good progress too, Trunks was showing actual tactical thinking and prowess. Of course, his was still no match for Vegeta's, and Trunks had a lot more to learn.

Time flew, and before he knew it it was time for lunch. Then the day seemed to grind to a stop. Vegeta was feeling unusually restless and distracted, and his mind kept going back to his strange dream.

Vegeta found himself longing to leave Earth for the first time in years, to search for something. He scoffed at the thought, amused at himself. What was he expecting to find? A mysterious, pitch-black planet? Shadows with glowing white eyes, perhaps? It was simply ridiculous. Still, a part of him wanted to explore, if only to be sure that his dream was meaningless. But where was he supposed to go?

Vegeta spent the afternoon flitting back and forth between the library and the garden. Once supper was done, he played chess with Bulma for a while in front of a crackling fire. He considered bringing up the subject with her, but she seemed to have forgotten about it and he wasn't sure what to say.

Later, long after Bulma had fallen asleep curled up beside him, Vegeta lay awake with one arm around his wife and the other resting behind his head. He stared out the frost-covered window at the night sky, wondering what was out there, beckoning him.

OoO

"Hey... wake up." Groggily, Vegeta stirred from the fog of sleep. Bulma was gently shaking him.

"Wha' izzit?" he muttered, glancing around the room. It was still dark out.

"I just acquired some intriguing new data and I thought you might be interested in hearing it." Even in the dark, he could hear the smile in her voice.

Vegeta squinted at the digital clock on their side table and buried his face in the pillow. "At two in the morning?" he groaned, his voice muffled.

"Hey, you're the one who woke me up. You were talking in your sleep," she said, matter-of-fact. He lifted his head up at that.

"Really?" Another thing that he never did. "I'm assuming you heard something worth waking me up for?"

Bulma flicked on the lamp and reached for a piece of paper with something hastily scrawled on it. "Yeah, I wrote it down before I forgot. Lucky I always have something to write ideas on nearby." She examined the paper, eyes narrowed slightly. "You were repeating yourself, so I got it word for word. Let's see... 'Bulma is a beautiful goddess and I use my super speed to cheat at chess.'" He threw his pillow at her before she could blink. "See? See! Just like that!" she exclaimed, giggling.

"You're just being a sore loser. Now tell me what it says, wench."

"Okay, okay! Jeez. X-98.172 beta C, in the Narsala quadrant. It sounds like co-ordinates, but I have no idea where they lead to. How about you?"

He blinked in surprise. "Not exactly. But you're right, those are definitely co-ordinates," he said. This was getting interesting. "The Narsala quadrant... that's not too far off. Closer than Namek."

"Huh," was all that Bulma said. A few seconds of thoughtful silence went by. "Maybe... maybe someone's trying to signal you. Do you think that might be possible?"

Vegeta shrugged. "After all that I've seen -that _we've _seen- I wouldn't be surprised." He sat back, deep in thought. So his dream was telling him where to go. The urge to go back to space was even stronger now. Intriguing. Even if there wasn't anything out there and he was just insane, it would be nice to have a change of pace.

"Can you make me a spaceship?" he said suddenly, his decision made. Bulma blinked.

"You're actually going to go looking for this?" she asked. "You don't even know what it is!"

"Just for a week or two. Then I'll come back. Besides, I haven't left this planet in over ten years."

Bulma crossed her arms. "Getting too boring for you, are we?" Although she was glaring at him, he could see her mouth twitching.

"Yeah," he deadpanned. "But honestly, I'm really curious."

Bulma shook her head and laughed. "There's no arguing with you, is there?" Funny. That's how he always felt about her. "Okay, fine. I'll make a stupid spaceship for you." She punched him playfully on the arm. "But I'm only doing this because you're one of the three strongest people in the universe so I don't have to worry about you running into trouble."

Vegeta smiled slightly. As usual, Bulma knew him all too well. He noticed how she avoided saying "third" strongest, even though they both knew it was true. Even though he wasn't nearly as competitive and hot-headed as he had been only months ago, it was still a sore topic for him. Just because he accepted the fact that Kakarrot and Gohan had beaten him didn't mean he had to like it. Even though he hadn't exactly broadcasted that fact, Bulma had somehow picked up on it.

"At any rate, we should deal with this in the morning," he said, leaning over his wife and switching off the lamp.

"Okay," Bulma yawned, rolling over to face him and closing her eyes. With a sigh, Vegeta also turned to her. He wasn't sure why he wanted to go; he couldn't think of anything he might want or need that he didn't already have. But maybe he was changing yet again, maybe he could go just for the sake of going.

Vegeta fell asleep pressed up against his wife to fend off the cold of winter.

OoO

Over the course of the next few weeks, Vegeta's urge to go out into space didn't lessen one bit. In fact, it seemed to increase every day. He still trained with Trunks each morning but he found himself constantly visiting Bulma in her workshop and asking when the ship would be ready.

After a few days, she quickly got fed up with him.

"For the nth time, it's going to be at least another week!" she told him in exasperation, throwing down her wrench. "What's been going on with you, Vegeta? You haven't been acting like yourself lately."

He didn't answer her, just stalked out of the room. Fine, then. He'd stop dropping by to see how progress was going. Now that he was faced with the prospect of actually leaving for a little while, Vegeta realized just how sick and tired he was of this boring dustball. He couldn't believe that he had ever liked it here.

Nights were strange for him. Although he never had a vision as clear as his first dream, his sleep was plagued with black figures and shiny white eyes.

At last, after pacing his way around Capsule Corp. for two weeks, all the while in a near constant state of irritation, the ship was completed.

It was a room-sized sphere resting on metal supports. He decided to leave as soon as he could and grabbed the duffel bag full of clothes that he had packed days ago. The entire Briefs family gathered outside to see him off.

"Bye, dear! I hope you have a nice vacation," Mrs. Briefs said, her husband smiling beside her. Vegeta shared a look with Bulma. They hadn't told anybody about his dream, just that he was going to space for a while.

"Where're you going, exactly?" Trunks asked, looking up at him.

"Oh, just... around," Vegeta said vaguely. "Thought I'd go back to my old lifestyle for a week or so." Minus the mass-murdering, of course.

"Well, see you later. I hope this trip puts you in a better mood or else I might have to kick you out on the streets," Bulma said. He put his arm around her waist, his mouth close to her ear.

"Ha, ha," he whispered. "You love me too much to do that and you know it."

Bulma sighed. "I guess so. Good luck." He pressed his nose to her hair and inhaled deeply, memorizing her smell.

"Love you," he murmured quietly.

"I miss you already."

He let her go, then slung his bag over one shoulder and went up to the door. "Take care of yourselves," he called to his wife and son. With a nod to Mr. and Mrs. Briefs, he unlocked the door and stepped inside.

Since he was only going to be gone fourteen days maximum, Bulma hadn't bothered to install a gravity simulator that went past five G. The ship just had the essentials: a bed, bathroom and control panel. He confidently strode up to the latter; Bulma had explained how to pilot the ship yesterday when she had been putting on the finishing touches.

Tossing his duffel onto the bed, Vegeta pulled out a scrap of paper with the co-ordinates copied onto it. He flicked a few switches, impatiently drumming his fingers on the metal surface as the ship hummed to life. He programmed the machine to go to where his dream had told him and skidded back a few feet as the round spacecraft blasted off from the ground. In the blink of an eye, the Earth was gone and there was nothing around him but stars in an endless void.

Vegeta drank in the familiar landscape of his childhood, a faint, nostalgic smile on his lips. He leaned on the panel, relaxing for the first time in weeks.

Yes, he had missed this. A bit strange that he hadn't noticed until now, but it was true. To be honest, Vegeta didn't expect to find anything at the location that he was traveling to. He now knew the reason behind his dream. It was all a ploy by his unconscious mind to get him to take a break from the dreary life on Earth.

But, just to be absolutely sure, he would go all the way to the Narsala quadrant. Once he knew that there wasn't anything there, he'd cruise around, maybe visit a few planets. Vegeta smirked, wondering if he'd be recognized by the locals. It had been a long time and he wasn't wearing his armour, but who knew? His name had struck terror into the hearts of a fair number of people at one point.

Vegeta frowned, realizing that he had no idea what had happened to the galaxy since Freeza had died. Had an era of peace settled down and united the various planets and species? Or had some new overlord popped up to take his place?

He shook his head to get rid of the thought. It really didn't concern him anymore. Vegeta's younger self would surely have jumped on the possibility of ruling the world now that Freeza was gone, but his craving for power had long since disappeared. It would be too much of a headache, just sitting around and ordering around his flunkies, and he wasn't interested.

For the longest time, his sole goal had been to become more powerful than Kakarrot, but he had failed again and again. He now knew that, as much as it irked him, it simply wasn't possible.

When Boo had been destroyed, Vegeta had decided to skip the period of existential crisis he had suffered after Cell. He made up his mind to take care of his family, and that was that.

He sighed, and decided to stop thinking about things that had already happened. It was pointless. Vegeta threw himself on the bed, kicked off his shoes, put his feet up and watched the stars float by.

This ship was really quite nice, especially compared to the cramped space pods he had to put up with back in the old days. Vegeta briefly thought about Bulma and how she had assembled this -albeit wearily- for him at a moment's notice. He wondered if she was offended or hurt by his eagerness to leave. No, he decided. She had faith in him and trusted him absolutely, one of the many things that he loved about her. Bulma would assume that if he was growing tired of her he would tell her.

According to the ship's computer, he was due to arrive at the spot in five hours. In the meantime, Vegeta was already bored. He hadn't thought to pack anything other than clothes.

Spying a cabinet built into the wall, he walked over to it. It was unlikely that there was anything inside but he opened it all the same.

Staring in surprise, Vegeta discovered that there were, in fact, five books stacked neatly on the shelf. _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything; So long and Thanks for all the Fish _and _Mostly Harmless, _all by Douglas Adams. He picked up the first one in amusement and found a yellow sticky note on the title page.

_Pretty sure you haven't read this series yet, so I thought now would be a good time. These books are a VERY good remedy for boredom. Also, I thought they were pretty appropriate, given that you're in space and from space. But you'll see what I mean. Come back soon._

_Love, Bulma_

Vegeta closed his eyes, grinning. What would he do without that woman? He decided to follow her recommendation and immediately began to read.

OoO

Vegeta closed the book, finished at last. Yes, there were some very strange Earthlings out there. From his experience, though, little gems like this one were few and far between. Most of it was the predictable slew of over-used plot lines and dull, one-dimensional characters.

He got up, stretching to shake off the stiffness of his muscles, and replaced the book. Glancing at the monitor, he saw that there were five minutes left until he arrived -perfect timing.

Vegeta sat at the controls, leaning forwards slightly and scanning the void. So far, no sign of anything but stars. He sat back in his chair, arms crossed, and waited.

4:27.

He watched the display slowly count down the seconds. It was really amazing, how time almost stopped when you weren't doing anything. His gaze flickered around the room and he exhaled in frustration. Since when did he get so restless?

3:54.

Fed up, Vegeta went and got the second book in the series and read the back cover.

3:39.

Giving up, he decided to just start the book. He tried, he really did, but his attention kept going back to the clock and he was having a hard time concentrating.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1. Finally! Eagerly, Vegeta looked out the window.

Nothing. Even though he suspected as much, he couldn't help feeling a small pang of disappointment.

But, for some reason, the ship was still moving. Annoyed, Vegeta powered it down. Space ships were supposed to stop when they got to their destination.

As he sat in the dark, he noticed that, now that the artificial gravity was turned off, he was being pulled forwards. That's funny. He was supposed to be weightless. It was outer space, after all.

...

Maybe his dream hadn't lied to him.

Vegeta sat up, heart pounding with excitement. Something was drawing his ship in and, judging by the distance, something big.

Just like in his dream, the stars drifted by faster and faster. Hastily, he turned on the ship before the gravity pushed him to the back.

_This is really happening. _Vegeta squinted, trying to make out a dark spot where there were no stars. But he still didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

Suddenly, the control panel sparked and he was plunged into darkness. There was an ominous creaking sound coming from above him.

Vegeta watched in disbelief as the metal ceiling bent slightly. And then, since the gravity simulator was offline, he was slammed against the back wall, the air crushed from his lungs.

The gravity was so intense that it was destroying his ship. Vegeta quickly became a Super Saiyan, just in case the whole thing crumpled.

Though he could breathe easily again, he felt the pressure building and building until it was well on its way to being as bad as before. What _was _this?

A bit uneasy, Vegeta ramped it up to Super Saiyan 2. He couldn't measure, but he was sure this was more than seven hundred Gs. He braced for impact.

There was a horrible grating screech as the ship was torn apart and he still hadn't hit the ground yet. He was falling, his ship gone, his arms and legs pressed tight against his body. There were no stars below him, just blackness. The freezing wind stung his face as it whistled by.

By the light of his golden aura, Vegeta finally made out a black patch in the starry sky, getting bigger by the second. Just like he remembered.

Then he smashed painfully into something solid and cold and blacked out immediately.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Vegeta slowly came to. He was very thirsty and his head felt fuzzy, but he was alive. He was lying on his back on something soft, probably a bed.

With some difficulty, Vegeta opened his eyes. He must have been unconscious for a long time; his mind was much slower than normal. It was like thinking through mud.

He was resting on a small cot with starched white sheets pulled tightly over the mattress. The windowless room was on the small side and, other than his bed, had only a single chair by way of furniture. Overhead lights cast a harsh white glow on everything and there was a set of metal doors in front of him.

He had barely taken in his surroundings when the doors smoothly slid open and an alien stepped into the room.

It was a pale green androgynous thing, human sized, with no hair. Its shiny black eyes were round and beady and it had a small button nose and pointed ears. It was dressed in a scaly black catsuit with white gloves and boots. Vegeta didn't recognize the species of the creature or its outfit.

"Vegeta," it greeted, inclining its head.

Vegeta hastily got up and copied the creature, deciding to be polite. "Hello." The creature didn't seem hostile.

"Please forgive the rough entrance," the alien said, blinking. "I am afraid that it is the only way to get to our planet. We restored your injuries in our healing tanks as soon as we could. I'm sure that you have many questions, and I plan on answering them. First of all, it was I who called you here. We have the necessary technology available to send messages across the galaxy."

"Of course you do," Vegeta muttered.

The alien smiled slightly. "You are used to this sort of thing. Come walk with me." It gestured to the open doorway. Vegeta warily walked through and it followed, closing the door behind them. They were in a long and narrow hallway lined with identical doors.

"Before we go any further, I recommend that you turn Super Saiyan. As you may have noticed, this planet has very strong gravity and you will be more comfortable."

Vegeta decided not to ask why the stranger knew about his transformation. Instead, he took the advice and quickly powered up. There was a small flash of something in the being's eyes, but it was gone almost instantly. It nodded in satisfaction and started down one end of the hallway.

After taking about five steps, Vegeta stopped as the weight dropped onto him like a load of bricks. He let out a breath. That was really strong gravity. In fact, it felt about as bad as when he had first trained under 300 Gs. Maybe even worse. But he kept walking, which was luckily still possible. He wouldn't show any weakness in front of this alien.

"So this is the planet's normal gravity?" Vegeta asked. The creature nodded.

"Yes. That low-gravity field we were just in was built recently in anticipation of your arrival."

"But why? What do you want with me?" Vegeta burst out, not able to keep quiet any longer.

"Ah yes, I digress. My name is Cobel and I am a member of the species known as the Ibb. Come through this door." Cobel pressed a few buttons on a keypad sticking out of the wall and one of the entrances opened. They both stepped inside.

They were in an area about three times as big as the room he had woken up in. This time, though, it was completely bare. Something above them caught Vegeta's eye. He looked up and gasped.

Instead of a ceiling, a planet hung in the black sky. It was close enough that Vegeta could see the familiar continents and wispy clouds, and he instantly recognized it. It was Earth.

"What is this?" he whispered in awe. Cobel reached up and knocked against something. Vegeta saw that there was a ceiling after all, it was just nearly invisible.

"This is our planet's natural terrain. We discovered its extreme magnifying abilities some time ago, and have put it to use ever since. There are thousands upon thousands of rooms like this one, all with different angles and zoom levels. The more levels you look through, the closer things get. So if, for instance, we went down a few more floors, we would be able to see people going about their everyday lives on Earth."

"That is... incredible," Vegeta said, stunned. "You can spy on every planet in the galaxy?"

Cobel tilted his head. "No. But over half of them, I would estimate. Some of them are blocked off because other planets get in the way."

"But I still don't understand what this has to do with me."

"It's simple enough," Cobel shrugged. "We can sense chi levels. Recently, the power of you Earthlings caught our attention. When we discovered that there were still Saiyans left, we were delighted. We've taken a particular interest in your species, especially your skill for gaining extra power after recovering from near-death experiences. We would like to see what causes that, and if it can be replicated."

"You want me to be a lab rat so you can try to get my abilities," Vegeta summed up. Cobel blinked.

"I certainly wouldn't put it in terms as harsh as those. We would need a few blood samples, of course, but we were also curious as to how you measured up to us in terms of power. Would you be willing to spar with some of our people?"

Vegeta raised his eyebrows, intrigued. "You know how to fight?"

"Yes. Our race hasn't left this planet in a very long time, we prefer to sit by and observe others. But every once in a while, some threat arises and we need to protect our way of life. So yes, we have taught ourselves martial arts. We have also gained great power from spending our lives on this planet with its high gravity."

"And how long do I have to stay here?"

"A few days. We don't need you here long, so you can go back home soon enough."

"Okay." Vegeta was won over. The chance to train under gravity this heavy was too enticing. This little trip was turning out to be a lot more eventful than he had first thought.

Cobel smiled warmly, shaking his hand. "Thank you. I'll take you back to your room and send for some more clothes. Unfortunately, yours were all destroyed."

Vegeta remembered his spaceship disintegrating around him, then realized what Cobel had said. "My room's in the safe zone? You think I can't handle a little heavy gravity?" he demanded.

Cobel looked at him in surprise. "I never said that. However, if you were exposed around the clock you would most certainly die. It's more than just a little. In fact, at the center of our planet where the gravity is most potent, it measures somewhere around 3,000 G's."

Vegeta's jaw dropped open. "Really?" he got out, a grin growing on his face. Though his rational mind knew that this much gravity was toeing the line between a good opportunity and madness, he itched to start training. Vegeta wasn't sure if it was even possible to build a gravity room that strong, at least not on Earth.

"Let's go back," Cobel said, walking out the door. With one last glance at Earth, Vegeta followed him out. Bulma's books would have been destroyed along with her spaceship.

Out in the hallway, Vegeta was already starting to get a bit sore from the heavy gravity. Thankfully, he had spent so much time training as a Super Saiyan that he could last for a long time without having to change back.

"This is your room number," Cobel said once they had gotten back into the safe zone. He gestured to a panel next to the door. "5169. It should be simple enough to find it, what with the low-gravity field and all, but you should know it all the same." He caught sight of Vegeta rubbing his shoulders and smiled. "Glad to have a break?"

Vegeta shrugged. He had mostly been testing to see how sore he was, which was not very. But Cobel was probably right about him sleeping in the safe zone, now that he thought about it. Even though it didn't seem so bad now, who knows what things would look like in a few hours. And he couldn't be a Super Saiyan while unconscious, naturally, and that was the only way to bear the gravity.

"How many G's was that?" he asked curiously.

"Well, we're pretty close to the surface, so I'd guess around... one thousand."

Vegeta nodded, thinking. So if he was going to be training under 3,000 Gs he'd probably have to fight at maximum power, Super Saiyan 2... it more than tripled his power, but he would be exercising, so it would work out about the same.

"Like I said, I'll have some clothes brought in for you. Shower's the next room over. Do you want to start right now?"

"Something to eat first, I think," Vegeta said.

"Of course," Cobel nodded. "I'll show you the cafeteria for this floor. You woke up at one of our meal times, so everybody is probably still eating. I'll introduce you."

They left the room and went down the hallway in silence. After a few minutes, Cobel stopped in front of a door. "Here we are," he said and pushed it open.

Behind it was a large white room, probably as big as the library back home. It was crowded with chairs and tables, Ibb sitting at each one. The whole room, which had been full of chatter, quieted as they stood in the doorway. There were murmurs of interest among the group, all eyes on him. Vegeta stared back at them, unintimidated.

"My friends," Cobel addressed the crowd of aliens. "As you can see, our visitor is awake. I have told him about our people, informed him of our request, and it is my pleasure to say that Vegeta the Saiyan has agreed to stay with us!" There was a roar of applause as the entire room rose to their feet and cheered.

Vegeta realized that Cobel had never told him exactly why they wanted to get stronger, but he quickly dismissed the thought. It was their own business, after all, and he just wasn't that interested. All he wanted to do was use their training rooms.

Cobel led him over to a table with a few empty chairs and they both sat down. "Your food will be ready shortly. In the meantime, let me introduce you to a few people." He gestured to the two Ibb sitting at their table.

"This is Sharle and that's Jess. They are both my assistants." The two Ibb smiled at him and bowed. He nodded at them.

Almost immediately, Sharle started quizzing him on what had been happening on the planets that were blocked off from their line of sight. He didn't really have much to say, given that he had been living on Earth for the past decade or so, and he was relieved when the food arrived.

"We have underground rooms for growing all sorts of supplies, so we're completely self-sufficient," Jess explained. "Back in the day, when we still left the planet, we got all the technology we need."

"But why did you stop leaving this planet?" Vegeta asked between mouthfuls of a meat called "spesh" that was like chicken, only spicier.

"Never mind," Jess said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I'm done," Vegeta told Cobel, brushing off his hands. "Let's go."

Cobel stood up and they made their way out the room. "Do you need to take a break for a few minutes to regain your energy?"

Vegeta had forgotten that he was a Super Saiyan but, now that Cobel mentioned it, he _was _feeling a bit tired. "Okay."

He went back to his room where he could relax out of the physically demanding form and sat on the bed for a few minutes. Then he and Cobel set off once again through the hallway.

"I'm sure that you want to use our training facilities right now, so I'll delay the blood work until tomorrow," Cobel said as they came to yet another door. This time, when Cobel opened it, Vegeta saw that it was an elevator. "We're going to the very bottom, so now would be a good time to power up." Vegeta nodded and concentrated on bringing out his last reservoir of energy.

"Impressive," Cobel remarked as they stepped into the elevator. "Yes, you should be able to take 3,000 G."

He pressed a few buttons and they descended deeper into the planet. All the weight had lifted soon after his transformation, but now it was returning. It was only a matter of time until he couldn't stay in this form any longer.

The doors slid open and a giant room greeted them. It must have been the size of Capsule Corp.'s vehicles hangar. It was empty, with one Ibb standing off to the side, obviously waiting for them.

"Cobel!" he greeted enthusiastically. "And you must be Vegeta," he bowed slightly. "My name's Nill."

"He'll be your first opponent," Cobel explained. "If you happen to get stronger than him, we'll give you someone new. I'll check back with you two in a little while; I need to finish eating." And before Vegeta could say anything, he stepped back into the elevator and left.

"How strong is he?" Vegeta asked Nill.

"Cobel? Oh, he's the best out of all of us. Our leader. No offense, but it they're assigning _me _to fight you, then you won't be fighting him in this lifetime."

Vegeta frowned. "I see. Are we going to start?"

"Right, right!" They both walked to the middle of the room. Experimentally, Vegeta jumped as high as he could and found that he could make it about ten feet off the ground. Not bad. Flying in extremely heavy gravity was always strange, so he generally avoided it.

"That Super Saiyan thing's pretty cool," Nill said. Vegeta smirked. "Pretty cool" didn't even begin to cover it.

"You go first," he said, holding up his arms defensively. The alien nodded and, after a few seconds, shot out a fist to punch him. Vegeta was ready for it and grabbed his wrist, pulling him off balance. Nill quickly recovered and almost landed a kick on him.

As they each attacked, Vegeta could tell that Nill was slightly weaker than him. But he was sure that things would change soon; he was already starting to feel the affects of the gravity.

After sparring for half an hour, Vegeta gave up. He had done his best to injure Nill when he had an advantage over him, but he still lost.

"Good job, though!" the Ibb said. "You really put up a fight. Especially since we're fighting under 3,000 times Earth's gravity."

"Yeah," Vegeta panted. "You don't suppose there's a healing tank some- ow." He winced in pain. "I think I just broke something."

"Oh, sure! Of course! Right through these doors." Nill led him out. "We had to make a low-gravity field here so the machines didn't break."

The second he was out of the heavy gravity, Vegeta changed back to normal. They came to a row of tanks.

"Just step in, I'll set it up for you. "

Vegeta nodded gratefully and stripped off his shirt and shoes then climbed inside the machine, remembering the many times he'd done this before. He pulled the mask down over his nose and mouth.

Through the tinted green glass, he saw Nill's blurry form go over to the control panel. He shut his eyes tightly as liquid started to trickle in through the walls. Whenever it touched his skin, it left a sort of numbing burn.

In a few minutes, the tank was full and he was completely submerged. His tightly-wound muscles finally relaxed in the warm liquid. The machine hummed in a comforting way that reminded Vegeta of his childhood.

The pain in his chest ebbed away until he could breathe deeply again and his cuts and scratches stung less. He meditated peacefully for a while -fifteen minutes or so. Then the water drained and he got out. Nill was waiting for him.

"Now where were we?" Vegeta said, pulling his shirt back on. "This time-"

He cut himself off as an unexpected avalanche of power surged through him. His mouth dropped open. This was... incredible. He hadn't gotten so much strength after being healed since... well, since Freeza.

"Hey!" Nill was shaking him. "What's wrong?" Vegeta snapped back to reality.

"Nothing, nothing." He shook his head and blinked. "Rematch?"

"Sure," Nill said. They walked back, Vegeta grinning with delight. It must be the gravity that made him so much stronger. Nill was in for a surprise.

He paused at the entrance just long enough to activate Super Saiyan 2, then stepped into the 3,000 G room.

This time, even though he could tell that it still would be harder to move than normal, it was definitely better.

The Ibb and the Saiyan stood in the center of the room, facing each other.

"You can go first," Nill said.

"Fine." In a fraction of a second, Vegeta had cleared the distance between them, snuck up behind Nill and gotten him in a headlock.

"What-?"

"Give up," Vegeta said through clenched teeth.

"I- um- but-" the Ibb stuttered. Vegeta squeezed threateningly. Suddenly, he was struck by the urge to just snap the Ibb's neck and be done with it, but he resisted. Cobel wouldn't like that. "Mercy! You win!" Nill cried, and he let go.

"Wow," Nill laughed nervously. "When Cobel said that you Saiyans got stronger, I didn't think it was like _this._"

"Yeah, well." Vegeta shrugged his shoulders ambiguously.

"It's not supposed to be." Vegeta turned and saw Cobel standing in the doorway to the room, watching them. "You should have reached your limit for this kind of power-up long ago. Obviously, that's not true."

"So what now?" Vegeta asked.

"Now you get someone new. Nill, you can go."

"Okay," Nill left the room, bowing. "Nice meeting you, Vegeta!"

The Saiyan ignored him, putting his hands in his pockets and glancing at Cobel. "How strong was that guy?" he asked.

"In terms of our people, slightly stronger than average. But weak compared to our soldiers."

Vegeta nodded. "I see."

"Oh, here comes your new opponent now," Cobel said, pointing across the room. A tall, broad-chested Ibb was striding towards them.

"Sir," the new Ibb addressed Cobel.

"This is Grai," Cobel told Vegeta. "He's a lot better than Nill, so don't underestimate him. I'll leave you two to it." He retreated to one of the walls.

Vegeta and Grai both took fighting stances. He didn't see any openings in the Ibb's guard, so he waited for him to make the first move.

Seconds passed and nothing happened. Vegeta soon got bored. Fine, then. If this supposedly good fighter wanted him to start, then he would.

He flashed over to Grai, his foot out to sweep the Ibb's legs out from under him. Grai jumped over and brought his hand down on Vegeta's back, who managed to dodge just in time. Without missing a beat, Vegeta sent a quick ball of chi hurling straight at Grai's face. He knocked it away with one hand.

They fought for what felt like hours. Grai never landed a blow on him, but Vegeta could tell that he was making his attacks easy to avoid on purpose. You could see it in the way he effortlessly sidestepped all of Vegeta assaults. He had power to spare. And that, along with having to fight under three thousand times Earth's gravity and the strain of holding up Super Saiyan 2, was quickly tiring him out.

Finally, after yet another failed attempt to draw blood, Vegeta had to take a break.

"I'm done," he said breathlessly. It was frustrating how slow he was, but he couldn't help himself. The gravity was catching up to him.

With a polite bow, Grai left the room.

Vegeta ran for the healing chamber. He wasn't hurt at all, he just needed to get to the safe zone and let go of this form.

"How was I?" he asked Cobel, leaning against the wall.

"Pretty good," Cobel said. "Your biggest disadvantage is the gravity. You aren't used to fighting in it. You can't spend long periods of time in it without losing energy."

"Yeah, I noticed. Did you get what you were looking for?"

"Not exactly. But it was fascinating, how much your strength increased after you got healed. Speaking of which, do you need to use the tank again?"

Vegeta nodded. "Okay." He wasn't hurt, just exhausted, but it would help him get his energy back faster.

His power level didn't rise at all after he got out. Afterwards, they both went back to the elevator.

"Next time, I should train only as a Super Saiyan," Vegeta mused to himself.

"Absolutely not," Cobel said firmly. "Too dangerous. I do not allow it."

"Okay, okay!" Vegeta said. "Just a thought."

They got out of the elevator and walked down the hall. "Here we are," Cobel said once they were standing outside the door to his room. "I shall see you in a few hours. When you're ready, just go to the cafeteria and they'll serve you."

"Goodbye," Vegeta said and closed the door. He saw that an outfit identical to Cobel's had been laid out on the bed. He tossed it onto the chair and turned off the lights.

Vegeta already felt sleepy. The entire day was almost surreal, like a dream. As he drifted off, he planned out strategy after strategy on how to land a hit on Grai. But most of all, he plotted on how to get Cobel's attention. It was clear that the Ibb didn't think him worth fighting. That was his mistake. Vegeta had gotten stronger when had thought he'd reached his limit, and he wasn't going to stop now.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Vegeta leaped at Grai as if he'd been spring-loaded and punched him in the face with all his might. This time, it connected.

After he'd met Cobel in the cafeteria and gotten something to eat, they had gone down to the training room. While they were waiting for Grai, Cobel got a sample of Vegeta's blood. Then the match started, and they had been fighting for all of ten minutes when Vegeta finally landed a blow on him.

Now Grai was glaring at him with a bloody lip, Cobel watching in interest, and Vegeta stood ready, adrenaline coursing through his veins.

And yet Grai still waited for him to make the first move. Vegeta was sick of this.

"Come on!" he yelled. "Quit holding back! Fight me for real, you coward."

Grai glanced at Cobel, who nodded. "Okay," he said, cracking his knuckles. "If you think you can handle it."

"Stop talking and just do it!"

Faster than he'd ever gone before, Grai shot towards him, leg outstretched. Though Vegeta could see the attack, it was much too fast for him to block in this gravity.

He got kicked painfully in the ribs, but counter-attacked in the next instant. It didn't matter that Grai was obviously stronger than him, he'd rather lose than fight with a handicap.

Five minutes later, Vegeta stumbled into the healing room, bruised and battered. All fingers and thumbs, he hastily programmed the machine to run for half an hour and jumped in.

Though he'd gotten his ass handed to him by Grai, he couldn't wait to get back when he was fully healed. If today was anything like yesterday, he'd get a power-up once the machine was done. Then he'd show that stupid Ibb.

And he could tell that Grai wasn't a whole lot stronger than him. In fact, if Vegeta could only spend more than two minutes in that blasted gravity without losing strength, and once he'd gotten another boost in power, he'd wager that they'd be just about even.

Vegeta had noticed that Grai never used chi blasts. He wondered if he even knew how to. One thing was for certain, he wouldn't be able to take a Final Flash head on and survive. But training fighting was different than actual battle, so he couldn't use that. Vegeta wasn't even sure if it would go fast enough in this gravity.

The machine done, he quickly climbed out, dripping with fluid. Vegeta caught sight of a trail of blood leading from the door to his tank, and felt the bizarre impulse to laugh. It had been a while since he'd actually gotten injured. Just like old times.

After a few seconds, the new power greeted him. It was a lot less than yesterday, but still something. Vegeta tightened his gloves and stepped back into the ring.

As the day progressed, he never managed to beat Grai. Vegeta had gotten the feeling the the Ibb was still holding something back on him, and he was right. The only time they stopped was for Vegeta's regular rests in the low-gravity field, and for lunch and supper. Vegeta used the healing tank twice more.

He did get a few more hits in, though nothing that turned the tables on their fight.

And then, before he knew it, the day was over and he was fast asleep in his room.

OoO

The next day, Vegeta continued to try to beat Grai. Less of the Ibb's hits were connecting and he only used the healing room once. He spent almost the entire day in Super Saiyan 2, so intent was he on besting his sparring partner.

Vegeta didn't get any stronger after his wounds were gone and, try as he might, Grai never seemed to lose stamina. It was like when he was trying to ascend all over again.

He gradually got more and more frustrated, until it all accumulated into one vicious uppercut that snapped Grai's head back and knocked him to the ground. He lay still, unconscious, blood trickling from his mouth. Cobel ran over to them, clapping.

"Oh, well done!" he congratulated, slapping Vegeta on the back. "Splendid! Good work, great progress. I'm really impressed at your endurance, you adjusted to this planet's gravity quickly. I'll just get this one all healed up," he slung Grai over his shoulder and carried Grai to the healing room.

Vegeta followed so he could take a break from being Super Saiyan 2, a smug grin on his face. One punch. Grai must have been hiding how hurt he was by the blows before. It was almost undignified.

"Well, that's that." Cobel pushed some buttons on one of the healing tanks. "Do you want to go to bed?"

Suddenly, Vegeta felt very, very tired. The day had caught up to him. "Sounds good," he said, holding back a yawn.

"Night, Vegeta," Cobel said, smiling slightly.

With a wave, Vegeta left and took the elevator back to his room. After showering and dressing in a fresh uniform, he lay awake in bed. For the first time since he got there, he was finding it hard to go to sleep. There was a little nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach. Vegeta hadn't noticed it until now, but, now that he thought about it, it had been there all along. He just couldn't figure out what it was.

After a few minutes, he finally put his finger on it. Suspicion. He felt uneasy all of a sudden. Something to do with Cobel and the Ibb. Why? They had given him no reason to doubt them and yet... something was off about the whole thing.

It was nothing. A new thought came to his attention and he forgot it.

Why wouldn't Cobel let him train as a Super Saiyan? Why did he insist on Vegeta being at full power? He was sure he could handle it. If worst came to worst, there were healing tanks less than a hundred feet away. In fact, now that the idea was planted in his mind, he really wanted to try. Just to see what it was like.

How about now? There wasn't anything stopping him. Why wait until tomorrow?

Curiosity burning, Vegeta climbed out of bed. Though he had been ready to fall asleep less than an hour ago, he was now wide awake.

Poking his head out the door, he didn't see any Ibb. Stepping into the hallway, Vegeta quickly powered up. The gravity was nothing more than a slight annoyance to him now.

As he hurried over to the elevator, he noticed a heavy, atmospheric silence lingering around him. The place had an almost sinister feel to it. Odd.

Maybe he should go back to bed. Vegeta couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't supposed to be here, that he was in danger somehow. But that was stupid. He was the Prince of All Saiyans, he could damn well go where he pleased!

When he was in the descending elevator, Vegeta went Super Saiyan 2 out of sheer force of habit. He'd go back to regular Super Saiyan in the training room, where the gravity was strongest.

The doors opened and he slowly walked out into the deserted training room. He kept going until he got to the center, as if following some sort of ritual.

He was just about to let go of his second form when someone screamed angrily, startling him.

"No! Why isn't it- this was our last hope!"

It was coming from another room, and sounded suspiciously like Cobel. Vegeta had never heard him sound this... upset before. He decided to abandon his original plan and investigate.

He walked towards the door it had come from, one that he'd never been through. He paused when he got to it, then pushed inside.

Cobel was standing at a table, his back to Vegeta, holding a test tube of red liquid and muttering to himself.

"Maybe if I isolate the taranalite elements or... no, that'll never work. I could try..." Beside him was a bundle of tubes and metal plates that was pulsing slightly.

Vegeta cleared his throat.

Instantly, Cobel whirled around, eyes wild. "Vegeta! What are you doing here?"

"I could hear you yelling from my room," he lied. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing. Just... resolving some issues," Cobel said lamely.

Vegeta narrowed his eyes. "What kind of 'issues'?"

"I can't get the secret of you Saiyans' powers from your blood sample," Cobel admitted.

"What could you possibly be wanting it for that matters this much?" Vegeta demanded. "And what's _that _thing?" He pointed at the unfamiliar device. Cobel said nothing, and Vegeta could almost hear his brain racing.

"Okay, fine. Cat's out of the bag. We want to get stronger so we can finally take control of the galaxy. And that machine is called an Influconfudom. I used it to send my message to you in your sleep and influence your subconsciousness to want to search for us. It's also suppressed your natural tendency to question things, so you accepted this whole situation and did what I asked of you more easily than you would have. Of course, now that you know all this, the effect's gone. But still, it was very useful at the time."

_What?!_

Vegeta's hands dropped limply to his sides and he stared at Cobel, utterly shocked. He had been controlled this whole time? Who knew what Cobel was planning on doing to him, now that he'd found out. He was much stronger than Vegeta, he knew that.

"Why do you need more power to rule the worlds? Don't you have enough?" If he kept stalling, he'd be able to... Vegeta didn't know yet. He'd escape somehow, he had to.

Cobel shrugged. "Well, yes. The main problem here is our planet. It has an extremely powerful gravity field, as least twice as heavy as the training room, circling it completely, a few million feet away. A shell, if you will, of powerful gravity. Even for me, it's too much to get past."

"So you want to get strong enough to leave," Vegeta realized.

"Of course. You didn't think we stayed on our planet by choice, did you?" Cobel laughed. "No. We're stuck here."

"Then how did you get all this technology? Healing tanks, elevators... even the furniture. How?"

"That's the second part of the problem. You see, that shell never used to be here. But in the past few months, it appeared and has been getting stronger by the day. It's also slowly advancing on us. If we wait around long enough, we'll all be crushed to death."

Vegeta nodded. Now that his mind was out of the machine's grip, he could think clearly again. All of the questions that he ignored were coming back to him, and the most important one...

"Why didn't you get Kakarrot or Gohan? They're both stronger than me." Inside, he grimaced.

"Son Gohan is not a pure-blood Saiyan." With a sinking feeling, Vegeta already suspected the answer. "And as for Kakarrot, well, we didn't want to risk sending an actual threat here. I mean, really, have you felt that man's chi level? Scary."

Vegeta clenched his hands into fists and glowered. Just as he thought. And then he saw Cobel's eyes, gleaming with something familiar. The Ibb was intentionally rubbing it in his face!

"Oh, get as angry as you like. Doesn't matter." Cobel turned away from him, chuckling. "I admit, it was fun. Like having a little pet."

Vegeta's head pounded in time with his heartbeat. "Get me off this planet. Now," he said through gritted teeth. He needed to go back to Earth.

"What are you, slow? We _can't!_ If there was a way, believe me, I'd be long gone." Cobel shook his head. "Impossible. Guess you're never going to see your wife again, huh."

With a growl, Vegeta pounced on him faster than lightning. Cobel pushed him away with one hand.

"... The weeks will go by," he continued as if nothing had happened, "and she'll start to wonder if you left her. Just flew off into space, where you belong."

"_Shut up!_" he snarled. "You filthy... don't even mention her! I'm going to-" He was cut off as Cobel put a hand over his mouth.

"Shh. Shh. No words. You don't like what I'm saying, do you? But you can't do a thing," the Ibb sing-songed.

Vegeta felt the biggest scream of his life building inside of him. Cobel watched him in amusement as he shook with fury.

"Oh... poor little monkey. Trapped, away from his wife and son, his rival... not even able to say a word."

It felt like his head was going to explode. He wanted to kill this man so badly that it hurt. How could he have fallen into this trap? And the worst thing was that Cobel was right, absolutely right. He'd spent most of his adult life blindly chasing after Kakarrot to no avail and now he was going to live out the rest of his days on this accursed planet... and there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

"Well, no matter. We'll all die soon enough, and then you can stop worrying you little head about the other insects back on-"

"SHUT YOUR BLASTED MOUTH!" Without thinking, Vegeta threw Cobel off him and stood up, eyes blazing with hatred. "Don't you dare mock me. You scum... don't even try to imagine the ways I'm going to make you suffer for this." Although he had been ready to destroy the entire planet moments before, his heart was now as calm as the eye of a storm, even as his mind throbbed with terrible thoughts. It vaguely reminded him of something, but he didn't think of what. The only thing left in him was disgust for this pitiful creature.

Cobel scrambled up against the wall like a cornered animal, terror in his eyes.

"Wh- what happened to you? You look... just like Kakarrot did when he was fighting Boo."

Vegeta smiled, enjoying the Ibb's fear. It was so strong he could almost taste it. And he knew what happened. He felt it in his bones. The familiar bottomless and unexplored pit of energy deep inside him, the bloodlust, the trance-like state of euphoria mixed with a thirst for blood. He had ascended to Super Saiyan 3 without even meaning to. But that didn't matter, there were pests to be dealt with.

He drifted forward, floating through the practically non-existent gravity towards Cobel.

"Now tell me," he said softly, hand brushing up against the Ibb's throat. "How did you plan to leave the planet once you'd gotten powerful enough?"

"We- we made ships," Cobel stuttered, "out of klangite. They could be powered by chi, they just needed enough to break through the wall of gravity." A small bead of sweat trickled down his forehead.

"I see." Vegeta's hand slowly traveled down until it was resting on the Ibb's chest. "And where do you keep these ships?"

"Next floor up, room 207." Vegeta could feel Cobel's heart beating through his gloves. "The room connects to a tunnel that leads straight to the surface."

"Thank you, Cobel," Vegeta said mildly. "That's all I needed to know."

"You... you're just going to leave?" Cobel asked hopefully.

"Why would I do that?" Vegeta said, mock-surprised. "After you used me? Took me away from my wife and son? Provoked me? And you think I'd just go?" The Ibb whimpered in fear and Vegeta grinned maliciously. "I don't think so."

Cobel opened his mouth to say something but before he could, Vegeta tore the heart from his chest and walked out of the room, calmly tossing it over his shoulder. As soon as he got to the training room, Vegeta broke into a run.

Now that he was moving, he caught sight of a long trail of golden hair behind him, crackling with energy. In an instant, he was in the elevator and pushing the button for the next floor up. It was an agonizingly long wait when he needed to _move,_ but he finally got there.

Dashing out into the hallway, he searched for the room that Cobel described. So much had been revealed in such a short period of time, but Vegeta didn't think about it. His mind was repeating only three words, over and over. _Get back home._

He burst through the right door and was in a massive room filled with high-tech looking spaceships blacker than the night sky. There was no ceiling, only a gaping tunnel to the surface, and Vegeta could see stars at the very top.

Grabbing one of the ships at random, he took to the air and rocketed up the passageway. Two seconds later, he was on the surface and still going. The gravity, which had been easing up, suddenly came back full-force. He must have already reached that shell that Cobel had been having so much trouble with. Vegeta didn't stop, it wasn't anything he couldn't handle, and soon broke through.

In zero G, it felt like he wasn't even there. One hand still firmly holding on to the ship, he turned around and stared at the small black planet that had almost been his gravesite. Soon, the gravity shell would be upon them and the Ibb would be crushed. But it would probably be a while before they actually died; they were tough.

Sooner or later.

Casually, Vegeta raised his hand above his head and began charging an attack at full power. He'd be merciful and make sure they didn't suffer.

His hand outstretched, palm facing straight at the planet, he released the deadly blast. It hurtled away from him and soon there was a giant explosion as it made contact.

Turning back, Vegeta flew around his ship until he found a door. He could survive in space for a while, but not long enough to make the journey home. He also needed to be pointed in the right direction.

Inside, he was welcomed by the familiar boxy shape of a control panel. He programmed Earth's co-ordinates in from memory, and words flashed on the screen.

_Please stand in the center of the ship and activate it with your chi._

Vegeta walked over and experimentally sent some chi at the walls. It disappeared as if it had been sucked up and the ship hummed to life.

Vegeta found that he could speed it up or slow it down by controlling the flow of chi that he was feeding it. He was traveling much, much faster than before, and the monitor informed him that he'd be at his destination in less than five minutes.

The elation that he had transcended Super Saiyan 2 hadn't set in yet and he wondered if it ever would. He just felt a quiet, peaceful pride in himself. He was looking forwards to seeing his family; it felt like he'd been gone for months.

How could he let a machine fool him into thinking that he was tired of life on Earth? It didn't matter what had happened before, he belonged there now. There wasn't anywhere else he'd rather be.

Vegeta opened his eyes and it was there in front of him. Home.

He changed the controls to manual, so he could pilot the ship to Capsule Corp. Bulma might have use for some klangite. He slowed down and watched the clouds drift by. Soon, he saw a familiar landmark and knew exactly which way to go.

And then, at last, the metropolis that was West City was underneath him and he saw Capsule Corp. itself. He lowered the ship until it finally touched down on the lawn. Still in the 3rd form, Vegeta hastily got out of the ship and was blinded by his first dose of natural sunlight in days. The crisp, winter air, the chaos of the city... everything was magnified, somehow.

There was a rustling sound followed by the thud of something hitting the ground and he turned.

Bulma was standing a ways away from him, two bags of groceries at her feet and a stunned look on her face. She stared at him, her mouth open.

"V- Vegeta?" she said faintly, eyes wide. Vegeta grinned and walked over to her, letting go of each of his forms until he was back to normal once again. "How- you said that it wasn't possible... I'm so confused. Wait, what are you wearing?" She eyed his Ibb uniform and he laughed.

"I've missed you," he said, gathering her into his arms.

"So something happened, I take it?" Bulma asked happily, hugging him back.

"Yeah. It's a long story." He picked up her groceries and they walked towards the entrance of their home. Right now, Vegeta couldn't remember being happier. He'd overcome his own boundaries, returned to his wife against all odds, and was back in the game.

Who knows, maybe he'd even pay Kakarrot a visit tomorrow and see if he wanted to spar. As the last two pure Saiyans, maybe it was time they learned to get along.

END of part 3

_**This concludes The Way of the Prince.**_

_**~Lily Sang**_


End file.
